Man stole life savings after sneaking into ex-wife's home (From Leigh Journal)

Man stole life savings after sneaking into ex-wife's Golborne home

7:07pm Friday 22nd February 2013 in News

A MAN who stole his brother-in-law's life savings by sneaking into his ex-wife's Golborne home every week for three years has avoided going to prison.

Bernard Young, aged 47, of no fixed address, stole more than £30,000 and was given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years at Liverpool Crown Court today, Friday.

He had admitted six counts of fraud by false representation at an earlier hearing.

The court heard that as his 68-year-old brother-in-law lived alone, his sister - Young's ex-wife - became a signatory on his account and made weekly withdrawals of £160 to buy his shopping and other essentials.

But from January 2007 Young began to steal the bank card on an almost weekly basis, making withdrawals of the same amount so as not to arouse suspicion. He would then keep the money for himself.

Young split from his wife in 2009, but unbeknown to her, still had a key to the home on Bank Street, Golborne.

Young would break into the house using his key, usually in the early hours, and take the card, withdraw cash from a nearby ATM and return it straight away.

The card was kept in her handbag and he would sneak into his ex-wife’s room while she was asleep and take it, resulting in her having nightmares as she believed she had seen a figure in her room.

His crime only came to light when Young’s ex-wife went to withdraw some cash for her brother and found he had insufficient funds.

Young, who admitted stealing the card, spent £20,000 of the cash on a barge boat and at the time of his arrest was living on Crook Marina, Wigan.

PC Sarah Langley, from the volume fraud team, said: “The further we delved into Young’s actions, the more astounded we became at his shameless behaviour.

“Not only did he steal from his brother-in-law while he was living with his ex-wife, he continued to do so for three years afterwards by breaking into her home on what was probably in excess of 100 times.

“His theft was calculated and malicious. He was particular about the amounts he withdrew in a blatant attempt to not arouse suspicion and he did this simply in order to carry on as long as possible.

“To that end he was successful because he only got caught out when the well ran dry and he had stolen his brother-in-law’s life savings.

“He has been sentenced for his actions today and we have restrained his barge in an attempt to recoup what we can of the victim’s lost cash.”