Wayne Jeffs, 29, disappeared ‘off the face of the earth’ four months ago on April 6 after popping out to go to the shops
A missing man’s best friend stole money from his devastated family, giving them hope that their loved one was still alive as the crook suggested the money was taken by the missing dad.
Stephen Moody, 27, swiped more than £100 from distraught Peter Jeffs – three months after his son Wayne Jeffs, 29, suddenly disappeared.
Shameless Moody stole the cash just weeks before Wayne was tragically found dead, a court heard.
Wayne’s body was discovered last August just a mile and a half from his home.
His outraged partner Carla Holbrook, who was heavily pregnant at the time, said Moody suggested to her and Peter that the money could have been taken by Wayne himself.
She said that gave them both new heartbreaking hope that he was still alive.
Ms Holbrook, 30, also accused Moody of ruthlessly preying on Wayne’s grief-stricken dad when he was at his most ‘vulnerable’.
Moody, of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, stole the savings from a cupboard in Peter Jeffs’ living room after he went to see the shattered family in mid-July last year.
The 27-yearold smashed a bathroom window in a bid to make his crime look like a break-in and throw the family and police off his trail.
Stephen Moody (pictured), of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, stole the savings from a cupboard in Peter Jeffs’ living room after he went to see the shattered family in mid-July last year
He admitted theft and criminal damage on the second day of his trial at Luton Crown Court on January 24 and was jailed for three months by Judge Richard Foster.
Carla gave birth to Wayne’s baby son Jack just a fortnight before the plasterer’s body was found by a dog walker in a nearby field on August 12 2017.
The mother-of-two told the Stevenage Comet she didn’t believe justice had been done.
‘Wayne’s dad just can’t believe it – he was supposed to be Wayne’s mate. If he had asked for money Peter would have given it to him.
‘He preyed on Wayne’s dad when he was vulnerable. And even led us to believe it could be Wayne [who’d taken the money]. He gave us all hope.
His outraged partner Carla Holbrook, who was heavily pregnant at the time, said Moody suggested to her and Peter that the money could have been taken by Wayne himself
‘We felt bad because we had lost this money, but it was wonderful to think that Wayne might still be alive.’
Moody, whose fingerprints were all over a cigarette lighter discovered near the broken window, was accused of breaking in to steal the money.
On the second day of his trial he did an abrupt U-turn as he admitted stealing the cash and then smashing the window.
As a result the charges were changed to theft and criminal damage.
Wayne’s gutted dad Peter never got the stolen money back, the court heard.
Judge Foster ordered Moody to pay £115 surcharge and sentenced him to three months in prison.
Carla gave birth to Wayne’s baby son Jack just a fortnight before the plasterer’s body was found by a dog walker in a nearby field on August 12 2017
Wayne popped out to his local shops on April 6 last year and vanished into thin air.
Carla, engaged to be married to him, said when his badly-decomposed body was discovered last August: ‘Nothing could have prepared us for the devastating news of Wayne being found.
‘In a way I’m glad we got it now, after I’ve had Jack, rather than before.
‘If it had been before it would have been even more traumatising.’
The full-time mum also has a daughter of 10, Cadey, from a previous relationship while Wayne had a seven-year-old son called Kenzie.