Woman who stole from her sick mother narrrowly avoids jail

Yvonne McDougall, 43, said she took the money from her elderly mother's pension and savings to pay for mounting family debts.

But Magistrates in Hastings heard how she then spent some 1,200 on a luxury cruise holiday.

A sentencing hearing on Tuesday heard how McDougall was left in charge of her mother's Hazel's finances when a brain haemorrhage in February 2002 left her incapacitated.

But instead of using her mother's pension payments and savings to pay her care home fees, McDougall began using the cash to supplement her own income.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.

Between February 2002 and July 2003 she stole 6,000 due to her mother in pension payments and a further 965 from her building society account.

The theft came to light when 3,000 in bills due to St Paul's care home in St Leonards went unpaid. As a result her mother was deprived of extra benefits such as haircuts and manicures at the home, the court heard.

Peter Bolwell, prosecuting, said although McDougall was entitled to withdraw the money, she failed in her legal duties by using the cash for her own gains.

Tim Hay, defending, said McDougall had been left in severe financial difficulties after her husband left her. She was on benefits with three children to support, rent arrears and unpaid loans, he added.

She began using the funds she collected to pay for her and her daughter to travel to London to visit her mother in hospital and provide other things for her care.

"My client mistakenly believed that East Sussex County Council was paying directly for her mother's care at the nursing home," he said. "She has not got a good handle on financial affairs and when invoices arrived from the home she thought they were receipts.

"Over time, because of the financial pressures she was under, she began to use her mother's money to meet her family's needs. None of her three children worked and she was on income support. She accepts she did so without consent."

Mr Hay said the holiday was paid for from a 3,000 loan from an aunt but accepted: "It reflects badly that she spent that amount of money on a holiday when under such financial pressure."

Sentencing McDougall, Magistrate Russell said: "This is an extremely serious breach of a position of trust. When people take it upon themselves to benefit from a position where they are able to take other people's money justice must be seen to be done and that means a custodial sentence. The fact you then spent money on a holiday does you no favours.

"Were it not for your previous good character and the mitigating circumstances of your financial problems you would have undoubtedly gone to prison."

McDougall was given 240 hours community service and ordered to pay 50 costs. She must also pay 48 for her mother's unpaid optician costs. A compensation claim from the care home was rejected.