OAP scam financial adviser faces bill for £760k
Thief will have to prove where he got cash or have it seized under proceeds of crime laws
A CROOKED financial adviser who swindled a widow with dementia is being pursued for more than £760,000 under proceeds of crime laws.
Gordon Couch was convicted of embezzling £170,000 belonging to frail Marjorie Stewart before and after her death in an Edinburgh nursing home.
The 57-year-old admitted charging the pensioner up to £1000 a day to read bank statements to her but claimed she was “happy” with the arrangement.
A jury found Couch guilty after a trial at the city’s Sheriff Court and he faces a lengthy prison sentence.
Following the verdict, it emerged prosecutors are pursuing Couch for £762,597 under proceeds of crime legislation. A forensic accountant pored over Couch’s financial records during the probe into the missing cash.
Couch was convicted of embezzling £170,000 from Marjorie and her estate and he isn’t facing any other criminal charges.
But it’s understood the specialist accountant identified huge sums of “unaccounted for” cash while probing Couch.
A source said: “Couch’s finances were forensically examined and money was found which was not properly accounted for in the usual channels.
“That could mean the money, other than that embezzled from Marjorie, was earned legitimately but not properly disclosed. However, that will be up to Couch to prove. Otherwise the money will be liable for potential seizure.”
During the trial, Couch admitted levying £197-an-hour fees on vulnerable Marjorie, who died aged 91, in 2013.
The crook claimed the retired maths teacher was aware he was charging her huge sums, adding she viewed it as “good value for money”.
On Thursday a jury unanimously found him guilty of embezzling Marjorie’s fortune while holding power of attorney over her affairs and acting as executor of her estate.
The shameless thief claimed the pensioner used up “40 per cent” of his time as a financial adviser even though she had only a basic portfolio of shares and premium bonds.
The court heard Couch lied in court documents after Marjorie’s death, pretending she still had £75,000 in assets when he’d drained almost everything into his account.
When the beneficiaries of her will, including relatives and charities, began asking questions about their bequests, the trial heard Couch fled to Hong Kong under the pretence of taking up a job.
His ex-wife Kerry, 53, told the trial she reported Couch to police over the missing cash in 2016 after learning he’d joined an online dating service.
Police arrested Couch in April 2019 after he returned to the UK for a business conference.
Sheriff Kenneth Campbell QC said he would consider the proceeds of crime action next month when Couch is sentenced.
Couch was ordered to surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions.