JAILED: Woman stole man’s life savings and left him with just £10

A woman who stole a man's life savings – leaving him with just £10 – has been jailed.

Kelly Mathews approached 47-year-old Andrew Peach, who suffers from early-onset dementia, in Bloxwich High Street, having singled him out as vulnerable, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

She befriended him and, flattered by the attention, he asked her to move in with him, said Ms Joanne Barker, prosecuting. But Matthews, 39, took advantage of his short-term memory problems.

Mr Peach, who had to write down his bank PIN number because of his dementia, found that his bank card had gone missing not long after the defendant moved into the spare room.

He cancelled the card on April 23 but by then £440 had been withdrawn.

The card was replaced but Matthews accessed the new PIN number and between April 20 and May 11 she took a total of £7,400.

She withdrew money most days – often three times a day, the court heard.

Upset

In a personal impact statement, Mr Peach said he had been saving the money for his funeral having been told he did not have long to live.

The experience had left him feeling 'bad and upset' and frightened of making new friends in case the same thing happened, said Ms Barker.

When he met Matthews he had £8,000 and now he had less than £10 and had to rely on his family for meals and other support.

The court also heard that his mother had developed a heart murmur due to the stress of what had happened.

The defendant was arrested after Mr Peach received a bank statement detailing the withdrawals and told his mother.

She suspected Matthews and advised him to go to the police.

The defendant was charged after being identified on CCTV cameras at cash machines.

Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, described Matthews as a victim herself, falling into sex work and drug abuse after being abused as a child. "She is trapped in the system," he said.

Matthews, of High Street, Bloxwich, pleaded guilty to fraud and theft of a bank card.

he court heard she had 107 offences on her record, including 58 thefts and four frauds, from 40 previous convictions.

Judge Jinder Singh Boora told her: "This offending was significant and prolonged. On each occasion you withdrew money, you were committing a criminal offence.

"But you have a long history of offending behaviour of a similar nature and in my view these sorts of convictions cannot be taken out of context.

"I'm persuaded that you yourself are vulnerable, and your empathy would be diminished by your own background."

He sentenced her to 12 months in prison for the fraud and three months, to run concurrently, for the theft.