Daily Mail

Handyman shamed for taking £200k from widow with dementia got another £140k in will

- By Neil Sears

A GARDENER shamed by a court for taking £200,000 from a vulnerable dementia sufferer is being allowed to inherit almost £140,000 from her will.

John Marney befriended confused former BBC World Service secretary Daphne Perott when she hired him to cut her tiny lawn on a council estate.

The odd-job man, 72, then took charge of her finances, paying himself thousands of pounds and getting his wife a new car. But the official Court of Protection was told he was misusing his control of the woman’s funds and a judge ordered that they should be taken out of his hands in 2014.

However, Marney remained the main beneficiar­y of her will. Now after her death last year aged 91 he has been told he will be getting his hands on £139,000.

Last night Marney, who was not among mourners at Mrs Perott’s funeral, told the Mail that he planned to celebrate by taking his wife on holiday to Benidorm for a month.

The gardener, who denies any wrongdoing, said: ‘’I had a lot of trouble after all the argybargy. I was a year under investigat­ion for this – £200,000 taken from an old lady, 88-year-old with dementia, and I ain’t been charged and nicked for it. I ain’t done anything wrong. That’s why I’m not in prison, innit? I didn’t go to the funeral – I was told to stay away.’

Marney added: ‘I got a letter three or four months ago – I was told I was going to get £139,000. When I finally get the money I’m going to put it in my pocket then take my wife on holiday for a month to Benidorm.’

He said a solicitor appointed to protect Mrs Perott’s interests had negotiated with him over the £325,000 will. He agreed to increase the widow’s bequests to her church and a monastery in return for being allowed to get £139,000 himself without threat of a legal challenge.

Last night a spokesmen for the Court of Protection and the Official Solicitor refused to explain why the discredite­d gardener had been allowed to benefit so handsomely.

Childless Mrs Perott had worked for the BBC World Service for decades. She married Mstislav Perott, whose parents had fled Russia after the 1917 revolution, and became an active volunteer in the Russian Orthodox Church in the UK.

After Mr Perott died 20 years ago, she at first remained living in the large marital house in Barons Court, West London. From the Mail, March 17, 2014

But in 2005 she sold the house – now worth £2million – for £425,000, and moved 20 miles to a council estate in St Mary Cray, South East London, where she had no friends or family.

A judge investigat­ing her case said there was a suggestion that ‘she may have been the victim of financial abuse’ over the move. Once in St Mary Cray, she descended into dementia. In 2006 she hired Marney, from Crayford, to look after the miniature garden behind her cramped former council house.

Exactly how much control he had over her finances only became clear in 2014 when social workers raised concerns and a special hearing took place at the secretive Court of Protection in London. Judge Denzil Lush found that as the woman’s condition worsened, she gave Marney power of attorney in 2011. It was not long before he paid himself a gift of £38,000 out of her account, drew a bankers draft for £1,500, and used her cash card to take out £8,500 he could not account for.

After she was taken into a care home in 2012, he promptly sold her house for £165,000 – and paid the lot into a bank account in his own name. He also used the vulnerable woman’s money to get his wife Susan, 71, a new Nissan Qashqai car.

Judge Lush stripped him of the power of attorney. The £165,000 was frozen. Marney, who claimed the £165,000 was to pay Mrs Perott’s care home fees, was not charged with any offence and was still due to receive 80 per cent of her estate.

Out of her total estate of £325,000, £60,000 goes to the Russian Orthodox Church and £60,000 to a monastery. Russian Orthodox cathedral administra­tor Vera McClenagha­n last night said she was astonished Marney was getting so much from the will, adding: ‘He tried to take over her house and money.’

A spokesman for the Official Solicitor refused to comment on the case, but said it was ready to intervene when any of the 2.6million people with powers of attorney were reported to be abusing their power.

Handyman took £200,000 from woman, 89, after secret court gave him control of her bank account

 ??  ?? Dementia: Widow Mrs Perott was confused
Dementia: Widow Mrs Perott was confused
 ??  ?? Will windfall: John Marney
Will windfall: John Marney
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