A couple stole a terminally ill pensioner’s life savings and blew it on weekends away, luxury spas and two French bulldogs.
Doreen Kelday, 80, and her daughter Paula Croft, 49, employed Aaron Ryan to help care for the horses at their farm in Warter, east Yorkshire.
They invited the 32-year-old to move into an annexe on the property with his partner Nathan Roberts, 25.
But the couple took advantage of the goodwill of Mrs Kelday, who has terminal cancer, and stole her £6,100 life savings.
Aaron Ryan (left) and Nathan Roberts (right, arriving at Hull Crown Court), stole a pensioner’s life savings and spent it on luxury goods and trips
Doreen Kelday, 80, and her daughter Paula Croft, 49, employed Aaron Ryan to help care for the horses at their farm in Warter – but were betrayed by him and his partner
The callous couple boasted about days out and trips on their social media accounts
Ms Croft discovered the theft when she found bank documents stashed in a car at the farm – but was then accused of stealing from her own mother, Hull Crown Court heard.
Ms Croft had permission to use her mother’s bank card for payments and withdrawals however shortly before August 2015, Ryan and Roberts got their hands on the card and PIN, and began their spending spree.
Prosecutor Lisa McCormick said Ryan asked for and received access to the mail box at the farm, which normally was locked, on the pretext he had a ‘shadow on the brain’ and was expecting medical correspondence.
Miss McCormick said: ‘It transpired this was a guise to get access to those bank statements so that no one would pick up that money was disappearing from Mrs Kelday’s account.’
The couple stole all their victim’s savings, taking between £200 to £300 at a time. They attempted to cover their tracks by discarding her bank statements.
Hull Crown Court heard the pair spent Mrs Kelday’s life savings on these two French bulldogs
Ryan, pictured, was jailed for a year by the judge who described his theft as ‘pure greed’
The judge said to Ryan and Roberts (pictured left and right): ‘It wasn’t as if you needed the money – you didn’t – you wanted it to fund a better lifestyle’
Ryan, and Roberts, both from east Hull,both admitted theft at an earlier hearing.
Judge Mark Bury said Ryan had played the leading role, obtaining the card and starting the withdrawals.
The judge told him: ‘It wasn’t as if you needed the money – you didn’t – you wanted it to fund a better lifestyle.
‘That was pure greed on your part.
‘You realised if you could keep the bank statements away from the family the chances of you being caught were slim.
‘This, in my view, did involve significant planning and a degree of sophistication, because you had first to actually obtain the card and then work to avoid detection.’
The pair stole the pensioner’s bank card and pin then set about hiding their withdrawals and spending sprees
Nathan Roberts, pictured centre, enjoyed trips away and weekends at festivals. He was sentenced to eight months in jail, suspended for 12 months, ordered to to 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £2,000 compensation
Mrs Kelday, who has terminal cancer, said: ‘We trusted them. ‘How they could be so unkind after we treated them so nice?’
Ryan was jailed for one year. The court heard that while Roberts played a lesser role and made only one of the 19 transactions, he must have known the card was being held illegitimately.
Roberts was sentenced to eight months in jail, suspended for 12 months. He was ordered to to 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £2,000 compensation at £100 a month.
Speaking after the sentencing, Mrs Kelday said:’I feel hurt because we were kind to them and I couldn’t believe they could do this. We trusted them.
‘How they could be so unkind after we treated them so nice?’