A West Lothian mum has been jailed after admitting that she stole thousands of pounds from her father, who suffers from dementia.
Linzi Pettigrew was caught after she lied to her uncle Robin Pettigrew about using some of the cash to fill her dad’s fridge with food.
When he went to William Pettigrew’s home to confirm his suspicions he found the fridge was empty, a court heard.
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Mum-of-three Pettigrew admitted fraudulently transferring £7,000 from her father’s bank account to her own between 1 April and 7 September 2017.
The 32-year-old from Winchburgh, West Lothian, was originally charged with inducing Santander Bank to transfer £11,546 but following negotiations with her lawyers the Crown accepted a guilty plea to the lesser amount.
Depute fiscal Katie Adams told Livingston Sheriff Court that the accused’s uncle Robin Pettigrew confronted the accused after learning that her father William’s account balance was zero.
He knew that William Pettigrew should have had enough money to pay all his bills because he was continuing to receive wages from his employers after collapsing in his workplace and undergoing medical checks at hospital.
The fiscal depute said: “Robin Pettigrew became increasingly suspicious following a conversation he had with the accused, the complainer’s daughter.
“She’d told him that she’d recently filled her father’s fridge a matter of days beforehand which Robin knew was untrue because he’d checked the fridge, having visited his brother every second day. There was no food in the fridge.”
The fiscal went on: “During a further visit to his brother he noticed a bank statement lying on the worktop and asked if he could have a look at it. He took it home and was shocked to discover how many ‘faster payments’ to the accused had been made.
“There were numerous payments from the complainer’s account to the accused’s account and he noted that there were numerous unpaid direct debits due to lack of funds.”
She said Mr Pettigrew accompanied his brother to the bank on 18 September and closed the account, contacting the police on 25 September 2017.
“The police asked the complainer whether he’d ever used online banking and he confirmed that he never had and had never given anyone permission to set it up on his behalf.”
James Walker, defending, said Pettigrew was “disgusted and ashamed” by her offending.
He said: “She took some money initially with the intention of repaying it.
“Things spiralled out of control and she found herself in a position where she couldn’t possibly do that.
“She was going through a difficult period and the money was not used in any way to fund a lavish lifestyle.
“Spending money made her feel better. She initially felt guilty and ashamed at what she’d done, then she’d take more money to make her feel better again.
“It was a vicious cycle. She’s deeply ashamed at the manner in which she conducted herself.”
Jailing Pettigrew for six months, Sheriff Peter Hammond highlighted that despite her father suffering from early onset dementia she had taken his money and left him with nothing to eat.
He told her: “You have admitted that for six months or so in 2017 you embarked on a calculated and deliberate – some would say cruel – fraud on your father which involved taking money from his bank account to the sum of £7,000.
“I’m told that you claim that you believe a course of unfortunate events caused you to have ‘some form of mental breakdown’.
“I have to take into account the possible impact on your family. You have got young children aged nine and two and I’m also told you have a third child aged 15 and they are a factor.
"However, I note your partner is available to look after them.”
The sheriff concluded: “In my view this was a particularly callous and despicable course of offending.
“Your uncle found no money left in your father’s bank account. Even worse, he found there were direct debits and various bills which had not been honoured because of lack of funds due to your interventions.
“You told your uncle when he confronted you that you’d used funds to stock your father’s fridge, but when he opened it the fridge was empty because you weren’t telling him the truth.
“This was a gross breach of trust and a betrayal of the parent child trust.”
He said he’d been informed that the accused had collected some funds towards paying compensation to her father but only to the extent of £380.
However, she had made no efforts to think about making recompense until 10 weeks before sentencing.
Sheriff Hammond told her: “The public interest will only be served by the imposition of a custodial sentence.”
Pettigrew showed no emotion as a police officer led her to the cells to begin her sentence.
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