Ludlow man who stole £58,000 from his dying father given suspended jail term

Carl Robinson, 48, of Sutton, Stanton Lacey, Ludlow, admitted two charges of theft and one of fraud at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

Julian Taylor, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Robinson's parents had decided to sell their home and to move in with their son in the summer of 2011.

Mr Taylor said that £50,000 of the proceeds of the sale were placed into a bank account.

Mr Robinson's father died in December of 2011.

Mr Taylor said that Robinson had failed to notify NatWest bank that his father was no longer alive.

He said: "He drained the account, mostly by payments to himself and to an American Express card in his father's name."

Robinson was also said to have stolen £12,000 from his mother and cancelled payments for a funeral and a trust fund.

Danny Smith, mitigating, said Robinson recognised his actions were "thoroughly dishonest".

Sentencing Judge Jim Tindal revealed it was not the first time Robinson had defrauded his father.

He said: "This is not the first time you have stood in front of the court having defrauded your family. Back in 1998 you committed a fraud in relation to your father's money and were made to serve a community order."

Judge Gosling told Robinson his offences had been "selfishness on an epic scale".

He said: "In 2011 when your father was extremely ill you took advantage of the situation and you took advantage of his death. I have no doubt the reason you did that was purely because you were thinking about yourself rather than the impact your behaviour would have on others.

"The reality of this situation was this was selfishness on an epic scale. While one might say that ultimately you would have ended up with some of that money you decided not to chance that and decided to take it yourself and take advantage of your situation at the most emotional time for anyone, shortly after your father's death.

"You rubbed salt in the wound 18 months later when you stole from your mother."

However, Judge Tindal said he was prepared to suspend Robinson's prison sentence so he could attempt to repay the money he stole.

He said: "How do you try and make this right if you can? Can you make it right sitting in a prison cell?

"One thing you cannot do in prison is earn money to pay anyone back.

In my view it is better for your family that you are out of prison earning money and paying back what you stole from your family than sitting in a prison cell mired in self pity."

Robinson was given a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years. He was also made the subject of a rehabilitation activity requirement and will have to obey a curfew between 8pm and 8am.