A greedy heiress who stole the life savings of her elderly mother to buy household luxuries and pamper her two dogs has been jailed for four years.
Care worker Luana Dougherty, 50, had already been given a £125,000 share of Margaret Trimer’s fortune from the sale their £370,000 family home after she offered to look after her mum when she developed Alzheimer’s.
But Dougherty exploited both her job and her mother’s mental condition to download a banking app onto her mobile phone to access her mum’s account and withdraw over £1,000 at a time.
Over one four-day period, she was transferring £20,000 a day into her own account and in all stole £216,000.
Dougherty was caught after she bragged to her son she was going to put a £60,000 deposit on a house and other relatives made enquiries with Mrs Trimmer’s bank.
It emerged Dougherty had spent ‘thousands’ on her Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type hounds, furniture, and setting up a dog breeding business. Facebook pictures also showed her enjoying a holiday in India with a male companion.
Just £10,000 was left in her mother’s account by the time the thefts were discovered.
In a statement to police Dougherty’s sister Sandra Clayton said Mrs Trimmer, who is in her 80s, was said to be ‘anxious and distressed’ when told of her daughter’s betrayal.
She said: ‘When mum sold up because she was unable to look after herself we agreed that Luana would look after her as she had worked in the care sector for people with dementia.
‘She had already received her share of £125,000 whilst the remaining money would be held in mum’s bank account. But Luanna was amassing that money selfishly for herself. We now feel so foolish that we trusted her.
‘In fact she started accessing the money almost immediately. She had told us repeatedly that our mother was attending medical appointments. But in the 18 months she lived with her she received no doctors’ appointments or diagnosis.
‘My mother’s money would have provided the best possible care for her. But the financial impact has meant we had no choice in a type of care home she would move into.’
Sandra added that the family are reliant on the local council to choose a care home for their mum and top up £100 per week for her care.
She said: ‘Luanna has not asked how she is, where she lives, or offered to pay any money. We have not received any money from her.
‘She had showed no care or concern and had used her for what she could get out of her. She had no regard for the consequences, leaving us to pick up the pieces.’
At Chester Crown Court, Dougherty, from Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port admitted fraud by abuse of position. The hearing was told she would be kept on by her employers at a care agency despite her thieving.
Sentencing the judge Mr Richard Conley told Dougherty: ‘What causes me immediate concern is that you seem to have an uncaring and callous attitude towards what you did.
‘You were a trusted member of your family and your siblings considered you were the person best placed to look after your mum in her old age as her symptoms of Alzheimer and dementia became progressively more serious. But it is clear their trust was entirely misplaced.
‘You stole from her repeatedly and in the process you deprived her of what amounted to her life savings, mainly the proceeds of the sale of the family home in which you had lived for many years. You did so because she was so vulnerable that she relied on you in every single aspect of her life and in particular in relation to her finances.
‘You were already the beneficiary of £125,000 and that money on its own would have been more than sufficient for you and for any lifestyle choices. But that was not enough for you.
‘You decided to exploit the position you were in and through greed and selfishness you continued to siphon off Mrs Trimmer’s money. It was like taking candy from a baby.’
Earlier prosecutor Tom McLoughlin said Mrs Trimmer moved in with her daughter in June 2021 after selling the family home in Farnham, Surrey, for £370,000.
The court heard Dougherty later transferred £80,000 back from her ill gotten gains.
In mitigation her counsel Oliver King claimed Dougherty’s ex-boyfriend had ‘pressured’ her into taking the cash.
He added: ‘There is no suggestion that this was planned from the outset. She invited her mum to live with her because she genuinely wanted to care for her. It was not possible for other family members to do that.
‘She was also experienced in caring for vulnerable adults, working for 10 years in the care sector. Her family clearly trusted her.
‘What she went on to do was very out of character for her. She tells me she does feel genuine remorse. She always enjoyed a close relationship with her mum. That is now shattered.’
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