Rugby fan is found GUILTY of stealing £60,000 savings from widower, 85, who treated him ‘like a son’ and changed his will on his deathbed so he would get family home after pair met through shared love of game
- Richard Elliott, 54, told how his inheritance was stolen by Graeme Prance, 53
- Ken Elliott died at 85 after forging friendship with Mr Prance over love of rugby
- Grieving son told court father changed will in secret to hand over family home
- Mr Prance found guilty of four charges of fraud at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court
Mr Prance (pictured) is accused of fraud after Richard Elliot said that cash was dishonestly taken from his father’s account when he died
A rugby fan is facing jail after being found guilty of stealing the life savings of his dying friend in a series of frauds.
Graeme Prance, 53, helped himself to £60,000 after widower Ken Elliott gave him Power of Attorney over his financial affairs.
Retired businessman Mr Elliott was unaware what was going on when he changed his will on his death bed to leave his family home to Prance.
Mr Elliott’s son Richard, 54, is contesting the will in the civil courts claiming he was robbed of his inheritance.
A fraud trial heard Prance and Mr Elliott had been friends for 35 years through their shared love of rugby, especially watching Wales and Cardiff.
Prance claimed he was ‘like a son’ to Mr Elliott, visiting him daily at his detached bungalow in Cyncoed, a left suburb of the Welsh capital.
In return his friend showered him with gifts including a £15,000 van for Prance’s kitchen and bathroom fitting business.
He also gave him £1,500 cash and paid for Prance to take his Thai wife on a sunshine holiday.
But the prosecution heard there was a ‘rash’ of withdrawals from Mr Elliott’s bank accounts immediately after Prance was given Power of Attorney.
Prosecutor Nick Gedge said: ‘Prance could only use his Power of Attorney by acting in the best interests of Mr Elliott.
Mr Elliott is said to have changed his will in secret in order to hand over the family home to Mr Prance (pictured)
‘But the expenditure on Mr Elliott’s bank accounts changed dramatically – prior to that, withdrawals had been relatively modest.
‘He dishonestly helped himself to Mr Elliott’s money to pay for goods and services.’
The court heard £14,575 was dishonestly taken from the pensioner’s Post Office account, £25,469 from his current account and £9,550 from a Nat West account along with £10,000 cash in a shoebox.
-
NRL cheerleader, 23, will be allowed to go on a six-week…
Shamefaced former Bloomberg LP executive is among fourteen…
Share this article
When Mr Elliott died aged 85, his only child Richard expected to inherit the family home in the leafy Cardiff suburb of Cyncoed.
But a jury heard his father had secretly changed his will and signed the property over to struggling businessman Prance.
Through a video link Mr Elliott sobbed as he told the jury: ‘On the day my dad died Graeme said to me: ‘Did you realise your dad left me the bungalow?’
Mr Prance (pictured) formed a friendship with Mr Elliott over their mutual love of rugby
‘He said I was not to worry because I could carry on living there rent free and he would not kick me out on the street.’
Mr Elliott said he ‘knew for a fact’ his father had left the bungalow to him in his earlier will.
He told the court: ‘That has unfortunately been taken off me – it breaks my heart.
‘The bungalow was stolen from me, it was my inheritance. My mum left it to my dad to be passed on to me when he died.’
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard his father called a solicitor to his hospital bedside to change his will before he died in May 2016 leaving the £212,000 property to Prance.
Prance told the court how his close friend signed over his family home while being treated for Stage 4 kidney failure.
He said: ‘I had a phone call from Ken in hospital asking to see me. I went in and he had a massive smile on his face. He said: ‘That’s for you, I’ve done it’. It was his will.’
Prance agreed it was a ‘secret’ arrangement and that Mr Elliott’s 54-year-old son Richard was not made aware of the change in is father’s wishes.
He told the jury he was ‘happy’ togged the house and his friend and benefactor had made provisions for his son who was due to inherit £250,000.
But the court heard Mr Elliott’s son has launched civil proceedings challenging his father’s will and claiming he didn’t make adequate provisions for him.
The jury took two hours to find Prance, of Llandaff, Cardiff, guilty of four charges of fraud.
Judge Patrick Curran told him all sentencing options were open when he is sentenced next month. Prance declined to comment as he left the court.
Source: Read Full Article