A nephew stole £17,000 of cryptocurrency belonging to his uncle who had recently died. The thief transferred the funds into a PayPal account and used it to buy computers and game consoles.
Callum Burn-Keen-Friel, 21, went to stay with his uncles Robin and James Symonds in Cwmcarn, Caerphilly, last year but Robin Symonds died unexpectedly. As a result of his brother's death James Symonds became concerned for his own health.
A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court heard Mr Symonds wrote down the login details for his and his late brother's computers and for his brother's cryptocurrency account and locked them a chest of drawers in his bedroom. He told Burn-Keen-Friel the location of the details in case anything should happen to him.
Upon the defendant returning to his home in Devon Mr Symonds noticed several items were missing and when he checked his brother's cryptocurrency account he noticed it had been accessed in the early hours of April 17 and currency had been exchanged. Prosecutor Tabitha Walker said Mr Symonds confronted Burn-Keen-Friel but he denied responsibility. He recalled the defendant was the only person who had knowledge of the login details and when he checked his bedroom he discovered a Trezor USB wallet containing Bitcoin and Chainlink currency was missing. The passwords were found laid out on the desk.
Mr Symonds logged into his account and changed his security details. Looking through his browsing history he could see purchases had been made for Nintendo Switch consoles, an iPhone 12, tablets, laptops, and desktops.
Burn-Keel-Friel was arrested and cautioned and investigations were used to rebuild the cryptocurrency wallet and revealed £9,228 had been moved from Robin Symonds' wallet to the defendant's wallet. Coinbase and PayPal were served with production orders which revealed a total of £17,968 had been transferred into the defendant's PayPal and Starling bank accounts.
The defendant, of Balkwill Road, Kingsbridge, Devon, pleaded guilty to theft, concealing and transferring criminal property, fraud, and securing unauthorised access to computer material with intent. The court heard he was of previous good character.
In a victim personal statement read to the court James Symonds described his nephew's actions as "a betrayal". He said: "For him to breach my trust when my brother died and to take advantage when I was in fear for my life is reprehensible. It makes me feel completely broken and devastated."
Defence barrister Scott Bowen said his client believed he was entitled to the funds and thought they had been left to him by his uncles but accepted the way he acquired the sums was "dishonest". He said the defendant had deferred a place to study architecture at Bristol University over uncertainty regarding whether he would be sent to prison. Mr Bowen said Burn-Keel-Friel was "a product of the care system" since the age of six and endured a troubled childhood.
Sentencing, Judge Richard Williams said: "This was a substantial breach of trust,. You were given passwords to an account done in precaution in the expectation you would not use them to access the accounts or transfer money until you were entitled as a beneficiary. You decided to access those funds well knowing you weren't supposed to."
Burn-Keen-Friel was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for 12 months. He was made subject to an electronic curfew for two months, was ordered to carry out 240 hours unpaid work, a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement, and to pay £1,000 in court costs.
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