DEVIOUS DAUGHTER STOLE £15K
SHE PLUNDERED PARENTS’ ACCOUNTS AND LEFT THEM £800 OVERDRAWN
A DEVIOUS daughter set up online banking for her elderly parents and plundered their life savings.
Andrea Casson-Wilson, also known as Andrea Briggs, stole around £15,000 from her parents Nancy and John Battye over a period of two-and-a-half years.
The 48-year-old used the money to pay off a clothing catalogue and an iTunes account but had nothing else to show for the deception, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Now, she will have to repay £12,600 of the stolen money.
Philip Adams, prosecuting, told the court that Mr and Mrs Battye are in their mid-70s and live a modest life as they live in a council house and do not go away on holidays.
They had two NatWest bank accounts – a savings account that had £9,000 in it and a current account that had £10,000 in it.
When Mrs Battye checked the balances in October 2017, she found just £1.83 in the savings account and the current account overdrawn by £883.
It was estimated the couple had spent around £4,000 of their own money but the rest had been stolen by their daughter.
Probation officer Gohar Khan said that the offence started after CassonWilson, who was born and raised in Huddersfield, got divorced in 2015 and moved back in with her parents in Holmfirth.
He added that she previously had a drug problem and is in around £20,000 of debt.
Ashleigh Metcalfe, defending, said: “Ms Casson-Wilson has a problem with spending.
“That may seem trivial, but she has had a life of debt and living on the breadline through her own wrongdoings and spending habits.
“She is a lady who does require some assistance in that regard.”
Ms Metcalfe added that her client, who works as a food and beverage supervisor at a hotel in Halifax and earns around £1,250 per month, could repay £200-£250 per month.
But Mr Adams argued that Mr and Mrs Battye are surviving on just £200 per week and Mrs Battye’s sister has been helping out buying groceries and petrol. Mrs Battye, who was sitting in the public gallery with her granddaughter, began to cry.
He added: “(Mrs Battye) said she is disgusted by what her daughter has done and that she used to be comfortable with her finances and now has money worries and is scared to spend anything because she is overdrawn at the bank.”
Casson-Wilson, who now lives in an overcrowded three-bedroom house in Sherburn Road in Swarcliffe in Leeds with her friend, her ex-partner and their six children, pleaded guilty to theft. She has one previous conviction for a theft from an employer.
Sentencing her to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, Recorder Simon Kealey QC said: “Your mother is rightly disgusted. Your whole family have been betrayed by this breach of trust. You have left them overdrawn and with no savings for a lifetime of hard work. They now rely on a small occupational pension and state benefits and other members of the family. “It’s a very high breach of trust.” The judge made a financial order for Casson-Wilson, who wiped her eyes in the dock, to repay £12,600 in monthly instalments of £350.
He also made a community order for her to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
Speaking after the hearing, the couple’s granddaughter Charlotte Senior said: “My family and I are devastated that she has got away with it. We will be appealing as jail would have been a more appropriate punishment.
“She is not sorry for what she has done and my poor grandparents are heartbroken.”
Charlotte added: “She hasn’t once said sorry to my gran, who has lost over a stone in weight, and my grandad, who is starting with memory loss, just keeps repeating “Andrea,