Michelle Moore admitted fraud at Chelmsford Crown Court after taking her mother Lynne Mill’s money over three years while acting as her carer
A vulnerable woman swindled out of £40,000 by her “evil” daughter says the ordeal almost left her homeless and has torn her family apart.
Michelle Moore was given control of mum Lynne Mill’s finances after her husband died and she was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2019. A court heard the 39-year-old had taken her 68-year-old mother’s card under the guise of purchasing her groceries while providing care for her.
But a court heard she instead squandered thousands of pounds on clothes and takeaways, leaving her destitute and facing eviction. Michelle’s sister, Taryna Mills, says she was horrified when she eventually visited her mum’s flat and found it in ‘squalor’.
Lynne was compelled to take her daughter to court to demonstrate to those pursuing her debts that she hadn’t been managing her finances. The great-grandmother, who has 21 grandchildren, said she’d hoped a stint in prison would put her daughter back on track.
However, after Chelmsford Crown Court heard she was the sole carer of her five children, a judge suspended her prison sentence – telling her she should be ‘thoroughly ashamed’ of what she’d done. Lynne and Tarnya, 42, who has now assumed responsibility for her mother’s care, say they were ‘disgusted’ that Michelle escaped a prison term.
“I couldn’t believe she would do what she did,” Lynne said. “She stole sweets from shops as a kid, like any child, but one time she came back with a bag full of makeup.
“I took her to Bexleyheath Police Station the next day and told them to lock her in a cell for an hour. I thought it would teach her a lesson, but obviously it didn’t.
“She said in court that she’d had a traumatic childhood, but she was the spoilt one. I knew what Michelle was like when she was younger, but I didn’t think she would do anything like this.
“It has only been the court case that has made it all sink in. All I kept thinking was: I had five girls and I brought them all up the same… Why has she turned out like that?”
Michelle started using her mother’s card after becoming her carer in 2020, refusing to return it despite Lynne’s repeated requests. She confessed to stealing more than £40,000 of her mother’s money over three years – a sum which excludes weekly supermarket shops of up to £300, as these could not be proved as not being for Lynne.
Yet Lynne and Taryna claim the true amount taken exceeded £50,000, but that Michelle had agreed to plead guilty to charges concerning £40,000 to avoid going to trial. The court was told the money was transferred into bank accounts held by Michelle and her husband, Wayne.
Card transactions included payments to Amazon, Apple, Halfords, Primark, New Look, McDonald’s, Just Eat and even sex toys and lingerie retailer Ann Summers.
Tarnya says Michelle would reassure her that she was looking after their mother properly, while also impersonating her mother and requesting advance Universal Credit payments. “I’ve been caring for mum since Michelle left in August 2023,” Tarnya explained.
“The level of care was nothing like what my sister was making out. We were all brought up in the same household – all five of us under one roof. She was the youngest and, out of all of us, she had it best.”
Things reached breaking point in August 2023 when, during the height of summer, Mrs Mills asked her daughter to purchase a £40 fan – only to be told by Moore she couldn’t afford it. A row followed, with Michelle throwing her mother’s card back at her and ringing her sister to announce she would no longer be providing care.
When Tarnya stepped into her mum’s flat, she was stunned by its condition. She discovered that, alongside empty cupboards, there weren’t even any sheets on her mum’s bed.
“It was in squalor,” mum-of-four Tarnya said. “I was shocked. I hadn’t been in there, because of Covid and because I was caring for mum’s mum. We were in different bubbles. Obviously, you feel guilt, but you just don’t expect a family member to do what she did.”
Tarnya revealed her mum had also been requesting Michelle to send money to her grandchildren for birthdays and Christmas. “They never received a penny,” she said. “It was all going into Michelle’s pocket.
“You don’t expect it from a carer, but you certainly don’t expect it from your own daughter. For dinner, mum would get a bit of cold pizza brought round, or some Chinese or the leftovers of whatever Michelle’s family had eaten the night before.
“I asked her for a couple of pairs of slippers from Primark once,” Lynne added. “They were a pound each. Michelle told me I didn’t have enough money. That same day, she went into Colchester and spent about £700.
“Michelle’s daughter would say to me, ‘Mummy used your card in Morrison’s. I will nick it back off her and give it back to you’. That was from a nine-year-old. Even her children knew it was wrong.”
Having changed her plea to guilty on the day of her trial, Michelle’s sentencing was delayed on multiple occasions while social services reports were compiled on each of her children. When the day finally came, Lynne revealed she had been eagerly anticipating her daughter receiving the justice she deserved.
“I was looking forward to the court date,” she said. “Michelle was going to get her just desserts. If she was locked up, even just for one day and night, it might be enough. She would see what it’s like.
“But it didn’t work out like that… Now, she’s laughing. She’s a greedy woman. She cares for no one but herself.”
Tarnya also revealed she had heard that Michelle had been spotted laughing while getting a tattoo in Clacton the day after her sentencing. She reckons her sister deliberately waited until their mother’s death was imminent before changing her plea, believing she could escape justice without her mum alive to challenge her version of events.
“It’s all the lies,” Tarnya said. “If you’ve done something, own up to it. Don’t use your children to get out of it, which is what she did. I wanted her to realise what she had done to our mum was wrong, but even the judge said she hadn’t shown any remorse.
“Now she could do this again, to an elderly neighbour or something. If you can do it to your own mum, you can do it to anyone. You shouldn’t do what Michelle did to anyone, but to do it to your own mother?
“That makes you the lowest of the low – and she hasn’t even been punished for it. Michelle is evil, disgusting… lower than low. The rest of us have stuck together, but no one wants anything to do with her. Mum has lost her grandchildren as well. It has broken the family apart.”
Tarnya says she’s now cleared all her mum’s ‘astronomical’ debts, with the family currently planning to redecorate her flat in Clacton. Yet despite attempting to move forward, Lynne says she can never erase what one of her own daughters did to destroy her life.
“I will never forgive Michelle for what she’s done,” Lynne said. “I don’t even want her to know when I die. I don’t want her at my funeral.”
Judge Jamie Sawyer handed Michelle Moore a two-year suspended prison sentence after she admitted a single count of fraud by false representation on the day of her trial in September last year. He also ordered her to carry out 150 hours of community service and pay £1,000 in compensation to her mother, while acknowledging that this was a ‘drop in the ocean’ compared to what she had taken. Michelle was additionally issued with a restraining order, barring her from making any contact with her mother Lynne or sister Tarnya.
