Margaret Hill and her father Gerald Hill acted out of ‘greed and spite’ as they drained the bank account containing £50,000, which was meant for Gemma and Jessica Thomas
A mum who heartlessly stole her daughters’ £50,000 inheritance did so because she was “annoyed” they received more money than her following their grandmother’s death.
Margaret Hill left the large sum of money to Gemma and Jessica Thomas in a trust for their 25th birthdays. Following Ms Hill’s death in 2013, the girls’ mum, Katherine Hill, who was a trustee of the inheritance pot, abused her position to steal the money.
The former bank employee, 54, and her father Gerald Hill, 94, from south Wales acted out of “greed and spite” as they drained the account in just over a year, Swansea Crown Court heard. The thefts came to light when one of the daughters asked for her share of her money early in order to put down a deposit on a house – under the terms of the inheritance the money could be given to the girls early if the trustees agreed.
Katherine Hill and her father were found guilty of fraud by abuse of position last year, with Katherine sentenced to 30 months in prison, of which she served half in custody, and Gerald received a 12-month suspended sentence. The judge told Katherine she stole the money because she was “so annoyed that your daughters received more money than you, that you took their inheritance”, Daily Telegraph reports.
The trial heard the cash was placed into a Barclays Everyday Saver account in the names of the defendants, something that went against the advice of solicitors and financial experts who had advised them that the inheritance should be appropriately invested.
Hill then recruited her father – the ex-husband of Margaret Hill and the victims’ grandfather – in her plan to embezzle the inheritance. During the trial Katherine and her father claimed they had posted cash in envelopes through the girls’ letterboxes, but Judge Greg Bull KC saw through their lies and described them as “thoroughly dishonest people” who had betrayed the trust placed in them.
He said he had no doubt Katherine Hill had been the driving force behind the fraud and had done so out of “spite” because of the money the victims had been left and because her daughters had chosen to live with their father following her marital breakdown. He told her she had used the money left to her daughters as a “weapon” against them, conduct which was “disgraceful”.
Mr Bull added: “It is significant that investigations could not reveal what had happened either to that £50,000, or to what had happened to other relatively substantial sums left to Katherine Hill after her mother’s demise. She still maintains that she has never received the £50,000. I disbelieve her on that and I find her answer to be totally untruthful.”
The judge made a confiscation order in the sum of £50,000 in respect of Katherine Hill and gave her three months to pay with six months in default in prison. A confiscation order of £6,000 was made in respect of Gerald Hill and he faces three months in prison if it is not paid. The judge ordered that the confiscated money be paid to the victims of the fraud in the form of compensation.
