A sneak who stole £35,000 from his elderly brother-in-law by breaking into his ex-wife’s Wigan home and swiping his bank card to buy a luxury barge has been ordered to repay every penny yesterday.
Bernard Young, 48, of no fixed address, admitted six counts of fraud by false representation at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday February 22 and was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
He was also told that he had to repay £35,300 which he had pocketed to buy a £20,000 boat which he kept on Crook Marina, Wigan.
Young targeted the 68-year-old man who lived with his sister – Young’s ex-wife, who became a signatory on his account making weekly withdrawals of £160, which she would use to buy his shopping and other essentials.
Young knew how much was usually withdrawn, and unbeknown to her, began stealing his bank card in January 2007 from the Bank Street, Golborne house and made withdrawals of the same amount so as not to arouse suspicion over three years.
Financial Investigator Keith Graham said: “This was some of the most shameless behaviour, driven by greed, that I have come across.
“To deliberately break into his ex-wife’s home on what must have been in excess of 100 times really does defy belief.
“Thankfully he invested a large chunk of what he stole in assets, like the barge, and subsequently and as a result of our financial investigation and POCA legislation, the victim will now get his life savings back.”
Young frequently broke into the house using his key, usually in the early hours of the morning and would then take the card, withdraw cash from a nearby ATM and return it straight away.
There were times when the card was kept in his ex-wife’s handbag and on occasion he would sneak into her room while she was asleep and take it resulting in her having nightmares, believing she had seen a figure in her room.
Young was finally found out after his ex-wife went to withdraw some cash for her brother and found he had insufficient funds.
The calculation was based on available assets, including equity in property, cash and the barge he was ordered to repay his victim the full amount of £35,300 within six months or be jailed for nine months and still be eligible for the repayment.
Image courtesy of Sean McMains via Flickr, with thanks.
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