An Edinburgh financial advisor embezzled £170,000 from an elderly Scottish widow who battled dementia by charging her up to £1000 a day to read bank statements to her.
Gordon Couch, 57, admitted levying £197-an-hour fees on vulnerable Marjorie Stewart in the years before she died aged 91.
The crook claimed the retired maths teacher was aware he was charging her massive amounts, adding she viewed it as “good value for money”.
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Couch continued to fleece Marjorie for reading mail at her bedside in an Edinburgh nursing home when doctors said she was no longer able to understand it.
But on Thursday a jury unanimously found him guilty of swindling Marjorie’s fortune while holding power of attorney over her and acting as executor of her estate.
Couch’s ex-wife Kerry earlier gave evidence against him at his trial in Edinburgh Sheriff Court, branding him a “compulsive liar”, reports the Record.
Debt-ridden Couch took the witness stand and claimed it was Marjorie’s wish he be paid huge sums for simple tasks.
The dad-of-two told how he charged her for checking the heating in her flat and pocketed fees for visiting her in hospital.
The shameless thief claimed the frail pensioner used up “40 per cent” of his time as a financial advisor even though she held only a basic portfolio of shares and premium bonds.
The court heard Couch lied in court documents after Marjorie’s 2013 death, pretending she still had £75,000 in assets when he’d drained almost everything into his own bank account.
When the beneficiaries of her will, including relatives and charities, began asking questions about their bequests, Couch fled to Hong Kong.
The jury was told Couch took a finance job there as the “net was closing in”, taking his family abroad under false pretences.
His former wife described how their marriage was crumbling and she returned to Scotland with their kids while Couch remained in Asia.
But with Marjorie’s relatives pursuing her for answers over the missing cash, Kerry, 53, reported Couch to cops after learning he’d joined an online dating service.
Police swooped on board a flight landing at Heathrow Airport to arrest Couch in 2019 after he returned to the UK for a business conference.
The court heard Marjorie grew up in Aberdeenshire before moving to Kenya with her husband where they lived for four decades.
The couple, who had no children, moved back to Edinburgh before her husband’s death in 1998, and they employed Couch as an independent financial advisor.
Giving evidence, Couch told how he changed his Edinburgh-based firm, called Utopia Financial Planning, from a commission-based service to one charging fees instead in 2007.
Working with 80 clients, he said Marjorie freely signed up to his highest tier of fees - his £5000-a-year “world class” package - which included four annual meetings with him to offer money advice.
Brazen Couch - who had personal debts of £117,000 in 2008 when he entered a debt management plan - described charging a £197 “hourly rate” for work on accounts.
He told the court: “Marjorie would contact me and say, Gordon, I’ve got a bank statement. Can you drop by and have a chat about it?
“I was there two or three times a week. We’d discuss her investment statements, her bank statement. If she got letters she wanted to speak.”
Couch said he would sometimes be at Marjorie’s home for up to four hours, charging her £788 plus another £197 to cover his one-hour return drive.
Fiscal depute Jack Caster, prosecuting, asked Couch if “charging £1000 to read a simple bank statement for four hours was good value for money”.
Couch, who said his victim “absolutely” knew what she was doing, replied: “Marjorie seemed to think it was good value for money.”
He claimed she was still “sharp” in the months before being hospitalised after a fall in January 2012. Marjorie was found to have heart disease and “cognitive impairment”, and spent the next 18 months in care before her death.
A doctor ruled Marjorie was “incapable” of making financial decisions due to dementia and Couch was granted power of attorney over her affairs.
Mr Caster said Couch transferred £60,000 in 2012 from Marjorie’s bank account to his own personal one for “visiting an old lady in hospital to read bank statements” she couldn’t comprehend. The prosecutor added: “You were absolutely rinsing her.”
Couch, who could move money from Marjorie’s account himself, said: “She wanted me to be reimbursed for my time and effort.
“Why would I not charge for my time? Marjorie used 40 per cent of the assets of my business in terms of time and was charged accordingly.”
Couch, of Penicuik, Midlothian, even billed Marjorie for driving to her flat in the city’s Barnton area to put each invoice in a folder while she was hospitalised and would never return home.
He charged for checking her flat and sending over her housing association dues, but claimed he didn’t charge for organising her 90th birthday party.
The court heard £195,538 was transferred from Marjorie’s account into his Couch’s between April 2009 and May 2015, with only a small amount being sent the other way.
He cashed in her shares, national savings certificates, and premium bonds with the money ultimately being transferred to him.
Mr Caster asked if Marjorie was “happy” some £200,000 in assets he’d been trusted to help her grow had dwindled to around £5000 at the time of her death in September 2013, almost solely because of his “fees”.
Couch said: “She got what she wanted.”
Mr Caster said: “You stumbled across a golden goose. You took all her money while you were in a position of complete control.”
Couch replied: “I charged fees and expenses.”
As executor of her estate, Mr Caster said Couch carried out a “cover-up”, lying about how much Marjorie left behind in court documents. Couch claimed it was an “error”.
He added his “files” on Marjorie’s account would’ve proved his innocence, but they were lost after he stopped subscribing to a cloud-based server they were kept on.
His ex-wife told how she received a letter from Marjorie’s relatives in February 2016 alleging cash had vanished shortly after discovering Couch was on a dating app and “screwing around”.
Before reporting the matter to police, Kerry sent emails to Couch saying, “Shame on you. Marjorie dies and a few months later you dream up a job in Hong Kong” and “Did you really think you’d get away with this?”
She described calling Couch in Hong Kong to demand answers and her estranged husband telling her: “You know what I’ve done with the money.”
Couch was convicted of embezzling around £170,000 between April 2009 and May 2015.
Sheriff Kenneth Campbell QC deferred sentence for reports until next month and continued his bail
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