GAMBLER STOLE £120K FROM STEPSON
VICTIM WORKED 16-HOUR DAYS TO FUND JOBLESS RELATIVE’S LIFESTYLE
A WICKED stepfather who condemned his hard-working stepson to living a ‘Cinderella lifestyle’ while stealing then spending his wages on gambling is now behind bars.
Jobless Anthony Caine, 46, took up to £120,000 after offering to bank monthly payments which his stepson earned from two jobs – working 16 hours a day over a sixyear period.
The trusting victim, who has learning difficulties, regularly deposited his salaries from his shifts at Tesco and McDonald’s into Caine’s bank account unaware his stepfather was spending it playing online roulette and fruit machines.
Meanwhile his victim was forced to live off cheap ‘value food’ from supermarkets and make use of the free meals he was entitled to while working at McDonald’s. He could not afford new clothes and was unable to go out and socialise with friends.
Despite earning up to £2,000 a month including overtime, the stepson was only given as little as £50 a month to live on and could ‘barely sustain himself,’ prosecutor Lisa Boocock told the court.
When he asked his stepfather for the cash he was told there were ‘financial problems’ within the household in Broadheath, Altrincham.
Police were eventually called by the victim and it emerged Caine had even stolen a £20,000 inheritance left to his victim by his late grandfather – bringing the total amount stolen to £118,857.
In a statement, the victim, now 33, said: “I just didn’t have the strength to stand up myself and I feel like garbage after what happened. Now I just want to forget about him. I’ve suffered anxiety attacks and nightmares about it. I never want to see that man again.”
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Caine was jailed for 28 months after he admitted four offences of theft and 15 charges of raid.
The thefts began in September 2010 after the victim, who has known Caine for 20 years, took on two jobs working five days a week. 6am-3pm at Tesco and 4pm-11pm at McDonald’s.
Miss Boocock said: “The victim was in his mid-20s when the defendant began committing these offences.
“He is said to be someone who always struggled in school and always wanted to please people.
“Both his mother and sister describe him as being a vulnerable individual. Meanwhile the defendant had been made redundant. He had financial difficulties and has not worked since 2009 but he helped with family finances and he took control of the victim’s bank accounts and cards.
“The defendant would request he did overtime on Sunday to earn more money.
“His wages were paid into the defendant’s bank account and this came to an average of around £2,000 a month.
“The defendant gave his victim around £80 per month, decreasing to £50 per month.”
Police inquiries revealed Caine had made 364 cash machine withdrawals from his victim’s account totalling £45,000 while making 980 online payments to gambling companies totalling £23,000. There were individual loans and transfers to Caine’s own account totalling £33,000 using his victim’s name.
Defence lawyer Julian Goode said in mitigation: “This is a terrible crime and the defence fully accepts that.
“The defendant is remorseful. Between October 2016 and November 2018, the defendant made several restitution payments to the claimant and only stopped doing so on advice,” he added. Sentencing, Judge Maurice Greene told Caine: “Because of the breach of trust, the heightened degree of that trust, the vulnerability of your victim, the sustained nature of the offence and the planning it took, the significant psychological effect it has had and the loss of confidence he has felt, the offences have to result in immediate custody.”
I just want to forget about him. I’ve suffered anxiety attacks and nightmares about it Victim’s statement