I didn’t think he would him. This has gone on there is no hope we’ll
HEARTBROKEN GRAN’S DESPAIR AFTER GRANDSON
Sally Hind A heartbroken gran is locked in a bitter legal al battle with her grandson on after he vanished with h more than £50,000 of her and her partner’s ’s life savings.
Isabella Mill, 77, and John hn McCartan, 75, trusted her er businessman grandson James es
Mill with the money after he promised to help them buy their eir new home together.
But now, three years on, he’s e’s boasting about a flash lifestyle yle in a £320,000 property while his devastated gran had to borrow w money to move to a modest st two-bedroom flat in Irvine, Ayrshire.
Retired factory supervisor Isabella cried as she told of her “anger” at the grandson she once loved, while ex-lorry driver John said he had been left “feeling sick” at the loss of their savings.
Isabella said: “I didn’t think he would do this to me. We had a good relationship and I really loved him.
“This has gone on and on and we now believe there is no hope of getting the money back. I feel like he’s just getting away with it.”
Isabella and John’s money didn’t make it into a solicitor’s account for the house purchase in 2018 and, when police were alerted, Mill, 33, claimed his account had been frozen.
The pensioners took their case to court and a sheriff made an order for the immediate return of the money.
But three years after handing it over, they have lost all hope of Mill – who lives in a gated, detached four-bedroom villa on the outskirts of the town – ever returning their cash.
The ordealal began when widowed Isabella decided ttoo sell the flat she owned andnd buy a propertyerty to live in with partner John.hn.
They say Mill, who has hadd ven-ventures in propertyoperty and hospitality,itality, offered to be their “agent” andnd deal with solicitorsitors on their behalf.f.
Isabella said: “He was a businessmaninessman and seemedmed to be doing well for himself so I said ‘fine’.”ne’”
The gran said she had already given Mi l l
£4000, which he said
detail how police questioned Mill but he told them his account had been locked.
Isabella said: “The police said, ‘I think you better get a lawyer.’ So we took it to the civil court.
“We were backwards and forward to the lawyer and I had to pay for that too. It’s been very stressful.”
Mill did not defend the action and a decree was granted ordering him to return all of Isabella and John’s money.
He was also made liable for £3700 legal costs, leaving him owing £56,341.47.
Lawyers for the couple also placed an inhibition order on Mill’s £ 320,000 home, restricting what he can do with the property for several years.
Mill emailed the couple’s lawyers in 2019 stating that he wished to repay the couple in full from the sale of a property but payment was not received.
He then offered to pay lump sums for several months until he could release pension funds to repay the balance but did not follow through on the agreement.
Last year a debt repayment plan was set up promising to repay most of the cash over six-and-a-half years but the couple say they received only three payments of just over £ 500 between May and August last year before being notified of an application to revoke the order.
It was the final blow for Isabella, who lost her son, Mill’s dad James Sr, in a motorbike accident 12 years ago when he was aged just 40.
She said her grandson has never given her an explanation of what happened
to her money and their once close relrelationship is now in tatters.
SShe said: “Our relationship had beebeen good. I used to take him on his hoholidays when he was young and loolooked after him just about every weweekend until he was about 14.
“He would go for my prescriptions whwhen his papa died and he had a cafcafe in the middle of the town we wowould go to. He invited us up for memeals at his house.
“I thought the world of him. I thothought he was a good businessman and doing well and I was proud of him. “I just didn’t expect this of him. I’m so aangry.
“WWe don’t speak at all now. I’ve left it up to the lawyers now but they’re not ggetting any further forward either. We’vWe’ve lost hope of getting it back.”
John Jo added: “It just makes you feel sick to see your life savings disappear with the swipe of a phone.”
MMi l l is l inked to seven active busibusinesses on Companies House, incluincluding a property holdings firm, and a string of dissolved companies.
HHe has posted pictures on social medmedia of him relaxing in his vast back gardegarden and also shared information on various business ventures while the court battle with his gran was ongoing.
In one Facebook post last year, sharing a picture of his garden, Mills wrote: “Phase 1 of garden light project! Very happy indeed.”
And in another, showing designer shoes resting on a garden seat, he said: “I really should do this more often #gardenchillday.”
Talking about the shoes, he told a pal: “nice pair of Loake of London – yeeeeees.”
We traced him to a hotel in Dreghorn he was previously known to be running.
When we asked why he had stopped paying his gran the money he owes, he said: “That’s due to Covid.”
He declined to comment further.
couple handed over to buy home disappeared
We don’t speak at all now. I’ve left it to the lawyers. It’s been so stressful