Life savings theft couple jailed

A "selfish" couple who wiped out a 91-year-old dementia sufferer's life savings by helping themselves to her bank accounts have been jailed for two and a half years.

Lesley Reeve, 56, and husband Andrew, 55, spent all but £3,000 of her godmother Joan Killen's £130,000 after the pensioner allowed him to become a signatory on her bank accounts.

The judge said they were guilty of a gross breach of trust and although they had been hard-working throughout their lives, he branded them "utterly materialistic".

The couple cleared debts, bought a car for one of their two sons and spent thousands on electrical goods and presents for themselves, Teesside Crown Court heard during their trial last month.

They also spent some of the money on converting the garage of their home in Chichester Close, Hartlepool, into a wet room and gym, but told police the work was really to make it into a bedroom for "Aunty Joan'', who by then was living in a care home.

They claimed they loved Miss Killen and said she was happy for them to spend her savings as they saw fit, as she was going to leave them everything in her will.

While the Reeves spent tens of thousands on their family home, Miss Killen lived in a sparsely-decorated room in a care home.

On one occasion she asked for personal effects to be brought in, but when the Reeves failed to do so, a member of staff went out and bought her some earrings and a jewellery box.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, sentenced the couple as they held hands in the dock, telling them: "You were found guilty by the jury on compelling evidence. What the jury concluded you did was to strip all the monies that your godmother, Mrs Reeve, had. You did so for your own selfish needs."

Miss Killen, who is still alive, was now relying on the state to pay for her care costs, the court heard.