Drug addict swindled £51,000 from widower
AGAMBLING and cocaine addict who swindled £51,181 of retirement savings from a Runcorn widower has been sentenced to 32 months in prison.
Jason Drury, 46, formerly of Waterbridge Mews, Runcorn, had befriended Robert Ian Jones, 62, while out drinking in the town before the older man took him in as a lodger in his house on Cartmell Close, Runcorn, after Drury and his girlfriend split up, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday.
Matthew Dunford, prosecuting, revealed that while living there, Drury betrayed Mr Jones by entering his bedroom to use his bank card details to withdraw cash and make payments.
Drury also took Mr Jones to cash points to withdraw money, having ‘threatened him and said he would hit him unless he gave him money’.
As well as haemorrhaging Mr Jones’s retirement funds, Drury stole and pawned his victim’s CCTV system for £100 at Cash Converter and stole his Vauxhall Vectra.
He also took his victim’s BMW M3 – described as Mr Jones’s ‘pride and joy’ – for a drive but did not bring it back.
The vehicle was ultimately located by the police.
Drury tried to cover up the thefts from Mr Jones’s bank account by stealing his own parents’ chequebook, only for banks to refuse the cheques.
He even stole a £485 bike from one of Mr Jones’s neighbours, who used to leave a key out under a plant pot for Mr Jones to walk her dog.
The court heard Mr Jones had thought of Drury as his friend until one day he vanished and did not return to the house.
In Drury’s room, Mr Jones found his own opened bank statements, which revealed he was in default and overdrawn by £12,000.
On March 19, 2015, Detective Constable Justin Jones inspected Drury’s bedroom, which was rank with the ‘strong smell of urine’ and ‘in a poor state’, and which contained an incriminating credit card statement and some cocaine.
The offences happened between 2013 and 2015 but a victim impact statement read to the court said the ordeal has left a devastating legacy, causing Mr Jones to suffer stress and heart jitters, which added to existing and prior health problems, that have included three heart attacks and which contributed to his early retirement.
Mr Jones also fears going out in case he sees Drury, who he said had threatened him ‘with violence’.
As well as selling his house of 25 years due to the shadow of fear cast by Drury’s time there, he can longer drive his beloved BMW M3 due to its association with Drury.
Mr Jones, who received £71,000 upon retirement in 2014, has now fallen behind on bills and is awaiting the bank’s decision on whether to settle the loss due to theft, which was pending the outcome of the court case.
Drury pleaded guilty to eight counts: five counts of theft, two of fraud, and one for possession of a small amount of cocaine found in his bedroom.
Steve Nikolich, defending, said his client had suffered from emotionally unstable personality disorder and gambling and cocaine addictions, and was remorseful, now offering to recoup and repay some cash when he could.
He maintained that Drury had denied making threats and claimed that ‘maybe his behaviour could be interpreted as such’.
He said chemistry graduate Drury had ‘found himself in a downward spiral and a vortex’, which ended in an attempt to take his own life but was now making progress to deal with his issues and was drug free.
The court heard Drury had no previous convictions for dishonesty but had four court appearances between 2002 and 2016, most recently for battery and Section 4 public order.
Judge Alan Conrad QC sentenced Drury to 32 months in prison and imposed an indeterminate restraining order.
Sentencing Drury, Judge Conrad said: “Ian Jones, a retired man in poor health, showed you only kindness.
“He gave you a place to live when you became homeless.
“You repaid his kindness, hospitality and trust by fleecing him, stealing a large part of his retirement payout, and blighting a period of his life in which he was entitled to relax in comfort and feel financially secure.
“His personal statement evidences the distress, anxiety and upset that your actions have caused to him.
“Only after you suddenly left his home in March 2015 did the enormity of what you had ● done became apparent to him.
“You had used his accounts as your own – stealing over £51,000 from him.
“To try to make up the deficit you stole cheques from your own parents, and tried to present them to the bank.
“If that were not enough, you also stole a Vauxhall car and a CCTV system from Mr Jones, and an expensive bicycle from the garage of a neighbour who trusted you.”
Victims of theft and fraud can call Cheshire police on 101.