Boyfriend took £6,000 from pensioner's bank account to fund gambling addiction

By mercury reporter at stafford crown court

A GAMBLING addict in debt to loan sharks plundered an elderly Staffordshire woman's bank account when she was ill in hospital.

Gareth Evans got the information to carry out the crime from his unsuspecting girlfriend, the carer of victim Mrs Edna Fox, Stafford Crown Court heard last Friday (May 21).

Mr Heath Westerman, prosecuting, said Evans went to the home of Mrs Fox, who is in her 80s, and stole her bank card and several bank books.

Over the next couple of weeks he withdrew cash and used the bank card stealing a total £6,645.

Evans, aged 24, of Baker Street, Burntwood, admitted charges of burglary and making false representations and was jailed for a total of 15 months.

Recorder Mr Kevin Hegarty QC told him: "Anyone hearing about this case would be disgusted that someone of 24 with no previous convictions could stoop so low so quickly.

"You used information that came through your girlfriend, unbeknownst to her, so you could enrich yourself.

"Once armed with Mrs Fox's cards you kept using them until they were stopped, you just helped yourself to as much as you could get."

Mr Westerman said Mrs Fox was being looked after by a company called Caring Hands, who employed Heidi Thacker as her carer.

The defendant began a relationship with her and used information on her work record list to steal from Mrs Fox, who was admitted to hospital in February.

Mrs Fox's daughter subsequently found bank statements showing transactions in March that her mother could not have made. Evans was caught after trying to hire a car using the stolen bank card. The transaction was refused and the company alerted the police.

After being arrested, Evans told the police he had a gambling problem and was £20,000 in debt.

He had gone to Mrs Fox's house looking for cash, did not find any, so took the bank card and bank books instead.

Mr Stephen Redmond, defending, said Evans had been a serious gambler since playing fruit machines at the age of 15, moving on to casinos.

He accumulated debts from loan sharks, which he was able to service while working, but after losing his job last December, was unable to make the payments.

He said: "He was threatened by these people, he literally had a gun put to his head. A sad and sorry history."