Man stole his grandad’s cash to fund girlfriend’s cosmetic op
AGRANDSON was spared jail for stealing his grandfather’s life savings to pay for cosmetic surgery for his girlfriend.
Luke Quatrini, 35, plundered the 92-year-old’s funeral fund, taking £1,500 to fund the breast augmentation surgery.
A court heard retired docker Clifford Bartlett had started saving up to spare his family paying the costs of his funeral after he began suffering ill-health.
But his family began stealing from his savings account behind his back – leaving him in the red and unable to pay for his care home costs.
Grandson Luke Quatrini spent £500 to help pay for breast surgery for hairdresser girlfriend Emma Hodges.
He also booked Ryanair flights to Spain using Mr Bartlett’s account, along with more than £100 worth of clothes, a portable toilet, and building equipment.
The defendant’s father, Vincent Quatrini, 74, spent £338.84 on car insurance using his father-in-law’s account details.
Luke Quatrini’s brother, Richard Quatrini, 31, posed as his grandfather over the phone to “authorise” the insurance payment as well as spending £13.59 of his money to buy DVDs on Amazon.
Prosecutor Emma Harris said Mr Bartlett had trusted son-in-law Vincent Quatrini with his account details so he could pay for his expenditures while he was in and out of hospital.
But he was left “devastated” when he found out his own family had cleared out his savings account and left him in the red. He died in December of last year after his health deteriorated.
Miss Harris said: “The word Mr Bartlett used was ‘devastation’ in terms of the impact on the end of his days.
“He deteriorated in health due to the police involvement and passed away in December of last year.
“He was a vulnerable man.” Vincent and Richard Quatrini later pleaded guilty to fraud.
Luke Quatrini denied his involvement and claimed his grandad said “No problem at all” when asked if he could pay a £500 deposit for the cosmetic surgery.
But a jury at Newport Crown Court found him guilty of five counts of fraud after a trial.
The three men appeared together at the same court yesterday for sentencing, when Recorder Ifan Wyn Lloyd Jones criticised them for their lack of remorse.
The judge said: “These were mean offences.
“Mr Bartlett was a close relative of yours. He had been saving for his own funeral to save his family the expenses for when he died.
“The three of you should be ashamed by what you did.”
He told Luke Quatrini giving him a suspended sentence was “in the public interest” after defending barrister Huw Davies said prison would mean he would lose his job and his family home despite having a “very good income” of £30,000 as an electrician for the National Grid.
Luke Quatrini, from Afon Mead, Rogerstone, was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for one year.
He was ordered to pay a £2,000 contribution to prosecution costs and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.
Vincent Quatrini and Richard Quatrini, both from Stockton Close, Newport, were sentenced to three months in jail, suspended for one year, and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.
Other members of Mr Bartlett’s family said after the sentencing they were disappointed with the punishments handed out, saying Luke Quatrini in particular was “very lucky”.
A spokesman said: “The sentences are not enough for what they did.”