Pensioner forced to withdraw his savings
An 80-year-old pensioner was repeatedly frogmarched to his building society by his grand-niece who forced him to withdraw his £44,000 savings, a court heard.
Scheming Kirsty Green, aged 21, initially persuaded her elderly relative to hand over his cash card and PIN number before empty his current account of 7,960.
Northampton Crown Court heard that he had never used a cash machine before and did not know how they worked, so he allowed her to use it to borrow a couple of hundreds pounds.
Matthew Maynard, prosecuting, said it was then that Green, of Welland Walk, Kings Heath, turned her attentions to his savings account.
He said: "It seems these funds were not sufficient for her so she frogmarched him to the bank on an almost daily basis."
The prosecution said she threatened her relative and made him withdraw all the cash over a three-month period, stealing 36,440 with withdrawals between 1,000 and 5,000.
The court heard Nationwide is prepared to repay 7,960 taken from his current account but is still unwilling to reimburse the remaining 36,440, despite members of staff failing to spot both the victim's vulnerability, repeated withdrawals and the high amounts involved.
Mr Maynard said a member of staff at Nationwide's Duston branch did try to intervene but stepped back when Green threatened to have her killed.
Judge Richard Bray said: "I would have thought there's no difficulty in Nationwide repaying the money.
"I'm very surprised because Nationwide has had plenty of time to consider this matter, since July last year, and they have not made an offer already. They are a responsible company which I am sure would help a customer who is in trouble, when they perhaps could have done more to help in preventing this."
Green, who is expecting her second child any day now, pleaded guilty to two theft charges, involving a total of 44,426, yet escaped a prison sentence.
Judge Bray, who was told her relative wanted her punished but wanted his money back more, sentenced her to 50 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for two years, with probation supervision.
He added: "You have had a lot of problems with at least one boyfriend, problems with drugs and you have got responsibility for one and three-quarter children.
"You have got to look after those children; they depend on you and you could ruin their lives so easily."
Stuart Yeung, mitigating, said: "The money went to supporting her habit and her partner's habit and living expenses. She was shocked at the amount involved."
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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