Son who impersonated dead mother to defraud Northamptonshire father out of £56,000 jailed

A man has been sent to prison after defrauding his father out of his life savings by transferring up to £56,000 into his own bank account.

Daniel Cuthbert, aged 42, targeted his father, who lived in Northamptonshire, over a period of 14 months from 2017 to 2018 by moving large sums of money out of his account. One of these transfers consisted of his father’s entire redundancy pay-out.

Preston Crown Court was told that Cuthbert made multiple phone calls to a bank pretending to be his father and, on at least nine occasions, put on a female voice and impersonated his mother, who died just a few months before the fraud began.

Cuthbert additionally racked up loans in his father's name, which resulted in the victim amassing debts and losing his house.

The defendant’s father first noticed suspicious activity in mid-2017 and confronted his son, who denied any wrongdoing. The father chose to believe him as he was still recovering from the loss of his wife, according to Northamptonshire Police.

Cuthbert’s crimes came to light when his father was visited by a building society in early 2018 and he was told he was going to lose his house due to debt arrears he knew nothing about.

Cuthbert, formerly of Warwick Avenue in Stanion, admitted fraud by false representation and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was also issued with a five year restraining order.

Sgt Mike Rogers, from Northamptonshire Police’s Volume Crime Team, said: “This was a really despicable abuse of trust by this man who falsely represented his father and even his late mother, in order to defraud them out of more than £56,000.

“This was a complex investigation, but due to some excellent work by the lead investigator, Cuthbert has been jailed and will now have plenty of time to reflect on his actions. We hope this brings some closure to the victim who was put through a horrendous ordeal by his son only months after losing his wife.

“We will work tirelessly in bringing such offenders to justice and getting results for the victims and anyone who has suspicions they have become a victim of fraud should report it to Northamptonshire Police on 101.”