Man stole £4,000 from elderly friend
A MAN stole thousands of pounds from an elderly woman who had known him since he was a boy and helped him with his finances, a court heard.
Craig Mulgrew grew up across the road from the woman and regarded her as his “aunty”. But he repaid that kindness by tricking her into handing over her bank details which he then used to help himself to her money.
Sending Mulgrew to prison, a judge told the 28-year-old he should be “thoroughly ashamed” of what he did.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Mulgrew, who grew up in north-east England, lived across the road from a woman who became a friend and who he regarded as his “aunty”.
Andrew Davies, prosecuting, said the defendant and the victim “remained liked family” as he got older, and when he went to university she helped him with his student finances.
The court heard that after university Mulgrew and his partner moved to Wales, and then in the summer of 2018 he returned to Hartlepool to see the woman, who is in her late 70s.
The prosecutor said Mulgrew told his victim he wanted to give her some money because of the help she had given him over the years, and he asked for her bank details so he could transfer the cash. Trusting Mulgrew, the woman told him her details, and he entered them into his phone.
But the court heard that over the following two months Mulgrew spent more than £4,000 of his victim’s money via the ApplePay app on his phone, buying items in shops and also withdrawing cash.
When the women became aware of the debits from her account, she asked the defendant what was going on as she did not use ApplePay. He told her it must be a bank error and he would sort it out – but in fact he continued to spend her money.
Mr Davies said Mulgrew’s bank,
Santander, sent text messages to the victim asking her to confirm some of the transactions were genuine. Unsure what to do, the woman turned to the defendant for advice and he told her to tell the bank they were genuine otherwise the bank would put a stop on her account.
Eventually the woman’s daughter became aware of what was going on and contacted the police.
In his subsequent interview Mulgrew said he could not remember asking the woman, who he referred to as “Aunty Margaret”, for her bank details but said it was possible her details may have got scanned on to his iPhone “by mistake”.
Mulgrew, of Rhiw Cae Mawr, Bridgend, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.
Thomas Roberts, for Mulgrew, said the defendant had experienced a “difficult childhood” which had left him with “mental health difficulties”.
He said Mulgrew was on medication for complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and also had physical health issues.
The barrister said while the victim was vulnerable, the defendant could also be seen as a vulnerable individual, especially in a custodial setting. He said his client had made it clear to him that he wanted to compensate his victim for the money he had taken.
Recorder IWL Jones told Mulgrew his victim had shown kindness to him over the years and had trusted him, and he had repaid that with a “deliberate, repeated, selfish fraud”. He said even after being arrested the defendant had lied to officers and had shown no remorse for what he had done.
He told Mulgrew: “You should be thoroughly ashamed of what you did.”
Recorder Jones said he had thought long and hard about what sentence to pass but the seriousness of the offending was such that only immediate custody was appropriate. Giving the defendant a one-quarter discount for his guilty plea, the recorder sentenced him to eight months in prison. Mulgrew will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.