Jail threat for woman who stole £9,000 from pensioner

A WOMAN who stole more than £9,000 from a pensioner with whom she lived for nearly 12 years has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Jemma Ramsden, 30, made 77 transfers from a telephone banking account set up in 79-year-old Sylvia Boynton’s name.

Hull Crown Court heard that Ramsden, of Chestnut Garth, Burton Pidsea, was in a relationship at the time with Mrs Boynton’s son Simon.

The court heard the offences took place between November 2011 and October 2014. They included 29 payments for online purchases from Amazon, Sky, Tesco and Asda, as well as transfers into Ramsden’s account, including 24 when Mrs Boynton was in residential care for four months.

Mrs Boynton raised the alarm when she came out of the home to discover there was just over £50 in her bank account.

Ramsden told her social services had taken the money, but her daughter Anne checked, discovered it was not true and they then went to the bank to investigate. A victim impact statement, read to the court, said Mrs Boynton had been “shocked” to discover Ramsden, who had lived with her mortgage free and whom she trusted, was responsible.

She said she had wanted enough in her account to pay for her funeral, adding: “I couldn’t believe Jemma would do this to me.”

Paul Norton, mitigating, said Ramsden had received “significant vilification” on social media sites and her children subjected to taunts. He said the vast majority of the transactions took place at a time the relationship with Simon Boynton was foundering, and she was in a highly emotional state following a hysterectomy.

The money has been repaid, apart from £1,500.

Sentencing her to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, Judge Simon Jack told her it was a “very serious offence”, but accepted she had been going through a difficult time.

Ramsden had pleaded guilty to one count of fraud on the first day of her trial. Afterwards Mrs Boynton’s daughter Anne Rogers, said her mother “doesn’t trust anyone any more,” adding: “I am just pleased she didn’t have to come to court... She wasn’t au fait with banking.”