Jailed, ex-Navy officer who stole his stepson’s £60,000 inheritance
‘He is the lowest of the low’
A ROYAL Navy veteran who stole almost £60,000 of inheritance from his young stepson has been jailed for three years. Iain Shepherd, who received an MBE from Prince William, targeted the money Joshua Powell inherited from his father.
The former lieutenant commander, who served in the Falklands, siphoned off £58,895 from the £83,000 inheritance – starting when grieving Joshua was ten year and struggling with learning difficulties.
Joshua, now 23, branded his stepfather ‘a despicable apology of a human being’. Shepherd, 56, had served alongside Joshua’s father Stephen in the Navy and married his widow Mary after Mr Powell’s death in 2004.
She entrusted him with safeguarding Joshua’s inheritance and Portsmouth Crown Court heard he had appeared to be a pillar of the community.
He was an adviser to the European Commission on maritime strategy and held a diplomatic role as an EU ‘ambassador for the sea’.
Shepherd was also acting president of the Chichester Chamber of Commerce in West Sussex and ran his own business. But by 2006, when he was appointed as a trustee for Joshua’s inheritance, he was bankrupt, which he hid from his family.
He began transferring cash out of Joshua’s inheritance fund into secret accounts in Italy, taking between £200 to £5,000 at a time.
In 2017 his wife became suspicious and Shepherd later told police he owed Joshua at least £80,000 in missing funds and interest.
Joshua, now 23 and a graduate, said he had hoped to use his father’s inheritance to pay off his student debt and complete building work at his mother’s home in Chichester.
He told the court in a victim impact statement: ‘I would like him to be punished and to go to prison and have his MBE taken away from him and for people to know the despicable apology of a human being he is.
‘All he really cares about is his image and reputation, he does not care to what extent he hurts the people he knows.
‘To take away his standing in society is the only way that he will feel punished.’
Shepherd admitted fraud and was jailed for three years and eight months and ordered to pay £19,497 compensation.
Speaking outside court, Joshua’s mother Mary said: ‘ He is a heartless, callous sociopath. He is the lowest of the low. He is a disgrace to the Navy and should be stripped of his MBE immediately.’