Luana drained £216,000 from her ailing mum’s bank account (Picture: Cavendish Press)
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.
She enjoyed lavish holidays – including one to India (Picture: Cavendish Press)
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.’
She pampered her two dogs with the stolen money (Picture: Cavendish Press)
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 …read more
Source:: Metro
