Wicked niece stole £36,000 and left me a broken woman says poppy seller, 101
When her uncle was dying Jean Kelly promised him she would look after his elderly wife.
Instead she stole her aunt’s life savings of £36,500, stopped carers visiting and isolated her from her family. And when she was in hospital she carted off her furniture.
The aunt, Laura Judge, was left a broken woman and is now in debt for the first time in her 101 years.
As her 62-year-old niece was jailed for three-and-a-half years at York Crown Court yesterday, Mrs Judge told of a traumatic, six-year ordeal.
‘ She left me feeling vulnerable, anxious and with very little dignity,’ said the former Poppy Fund seller in a victim impact statement.
‘I want Jean Kelly to know how she left me afraid in my own home.
‘I knew she was stealing from me. I challenged her and she would become difficult, telling me I was wrong. We had savings and I had a small pension – we have never relied on anybody for financial support and I have never been in debt in my life. now I have bills I cannot pay and I will die in debt.’
She said the trust her husband ernest had placed in Kelly was horribly misplaced. The couple were together for 70 years before his death in 2008.
Mrs Judge had to give evidence by video link against Kelly. She was too ill to attend the sentencing and her impact statement was read out by Judge Stephen Ashurst.
he revealed that Kelly had theft convictions stretching back 30 years – she had stolen from family, friends and an employer.
Judge Ashurst told her that the thefts from her aunt were cynical and exploitative.
‘You raided her savings for your own benefit when you were supposed to be caring for her,’ he said.
‘She had been reluctant to allow you to have anything to do with her affairs and it was only out of loyalty to her hus- band that she let you in. I would be failing in my public duty if I did not impose a sentence that was appropriate for the public’s revulsion.’
Speaking from her home in Little Smeaton, north Yorkshire, last night, Mrs Judge told of her frustration at let-
‘Cynical and exploitative’
ting ‘that worm in my house and take over my money’.
But she praised her other nieces who raised the alarm and saved her from being ‘destroyed’ by Kelly.
Relatives discovered that Kelly had hidden the Christmas and birthday cards they sent the widow, making her feel abandoned.
And Kelly failed to take her aunt to important hospital appointments, leading to her being blacklisted by the NHS.
The thefts came to light following a 100th birthday visit by two other nieces Alma hunt, 53, and Jean hunt, 56.
Alma said: ‘We hadn’t been to see Auntie Laura for a while because our own mother was really unwell. We just assumed she was being looked after by Jean Kelly. When we all came to visit her just before her 100th birthday, she was frail and upset and said she thought we had abandoned her.
‘Jean Kelly had even took Auntie Laura’s three-piece suite. It was absolutely devas- tating. We’ll never forget that.’ Jean said: ‘It took us about a week to realise there were discrepancies in her bank account. We got the police in straight away.’
The family believe the real total taken by Kelly was probably around £45,000.
Kelly, of normanton, Wakefield, was convicted by a jury of theft. She had been given a suspended sentence in 2011 for stealing from an employer.
She did not have power of attorney over Mrs Judge’s affairs and relatives believe she tried to falsify a document to get easier access to funds.
Mrs Judge, who had no children, was an accounts worker for Boot’s before she retired.