A shamed daughter who splashed out on holidays and lingerie after stealing more than £80,000 from her elderly mother has been jailed for two years.
Karen Wakeling, 47, took the cash over ten years after being given power of attorney over her mother, Pat Cordon, who is aged in her 80s and has dementia.
Norwich Crown Court heard how she even used her mother’s money to pay for her 40th birthday party at a hotel in Hunstanton, Norfolk.
The stolen cash was also used for a luxury car, beauty treatments, piercings, groceries, nights out, trips away with friends and to pay off credit card bills.
A shamed daughter who splashed out on holidays and lingerie after stealing more than £80,000 from her elderly mother has been jailed for two years. Karen Wakeling, 47, from Hunstanton, Norfolk, took the cash over ten years after being given power of attorney over her mother who is aged in her 80s and has dementia
Other amounts funded a Love Film subscription and her passion for shopping at Bravissimo which sells lingerie and swimwear ‘for women with bigger boobs’.
Former Tesco worker Wakeling denied fraud between October 2009 and June 2019, but a jury took just over an hour to find her guilty following a trial in January.
Judge Anthony Bate jailed her at a Skype hearing for the ‘substantial fraud’ which he said justified immediate imprisonment as it was so serious.
He told her that she had ‘perpetuated over a number of years a sustained, dishonest breach of trust and treated your mother’s bank account as your own to spend on yourself’.
Former Tesco worker Wakeling denied fraud between October 2009 and June 2019
Chris Youell, prosecuting, said Wakeling of Hunstanton had been meant to look after her mother’s finances.
But he said during her trial: ‘She abused her position of having power of attorney and spent the money for her own benefit, not for her mother.’
Mr Youell said there was a big gap in what was being withdrawn from the account and what was being spent on her mother, who was the widow of a retired firefighter.
He added: ‘A lot of the detail in this case has been taken from the bank accounts. It is all there in black and white.’
Mr Youell said payments were going directly from the mother’s account to pay Wakeling’s credit card bills.
He added: ‘Essentially they were being paid off from her mother’s bank account. She was misappropriating large sums of money.’
Wakeling was a regular visitor to the Lodge Hotel, in Hunstanton, where she held her 40th birthday party.
Mr Youell added: ‘Her mother was not invited but ended up paying for it.’
Wakeling’s brother moved in to help look after his mother in 2014, but had no idea that money was being syphoned out.
He only found out about it when her bank account was frozen.
Mr Youell told the hearing yesterday (tues) that Wakeling had taken ‘in excess of £80,000’ to spend on herself.
Wakeling was a regular visitor to the Lodge Hotel, in Hunstanton, where she held her 40th birthday party
The court heard that the offence was aggravated by the length of time it was conducted over.
Wakeling insisting that the money she took was her ‘mum’s way of saying thank you’ for caring for her.
Giving evidence during her trial, she claimed that said she had only done ‘whatever my mum asked me to do’,
Dudley Beal, defending, said Wakeling, had started out acting legitimately by managing her mother’s estate.
He said that the money was not taken through coercion or intimidation and she had not set out to ‘fleece her mother dry’.
Mr Beal said it was simply that the money was there and her mother said she could have it ‘all be it that’s not something she should have done’.
Detective Constable Gemma Weeks from Norfolk Constabulary’s Adult Abuse Investigation Unit (AAIU) said after the hearing: ‘The money was used to fund holidays and to run her luxury vehicle as well as to finance personal expenditure including piercings and lingerie. Pictured: One of the photos taken by Wakeling while on holiday
The detective added: ‘Wakeling left this vulnerable elderly lady living in less than ideal living conditions with no access to her own finances for over ten years’
Detective Constable Gemma Weeks from Norfolk Constabulary’s Adult Abuse Investigation Unit (AAIU) said after the hearing: ‘Wakeling abused the vulnerability of this elderly woman for her personal gain and to fund her own lifestyle.
‘The money was used to fund holidays and to run her luxury vehicle as well as to finance personal expenditure including piercings and lingerie.
‘Wakeling left this vulnerable elderly lady living in less than ideal living conditions with no access to her own finances for over ten years.’
The Norfolk Constabulary AAIU was set up in 2001 to investigate allegations of abuse against vulnerable adults and was the first of its kind in the UK..
A Norfolk Police statement said: ‘The abuse can be physical, financial, sexual or even emotional.’
‘The unit works closely with local partner agencies such as social services and health providers to investigate offences and safeguard adults from abuse.’