FacebookA former model and fashion designer has pleaded guilty to theft after stealing more than £230,000 from her grandmother who had dementia.
After becoming unemployed while living in London, Emily Evans-Schreiber, 38, was asked to help look after her maternal grandmother, who was in her 90s, in January 2018.
Evans-Schreiber, of Naseby, Northamptonshire, was then able to access her grandmother’s finances through a mandate authorised by the elderly woman.
FacebookOver a period of nine months, between April 2018 and December 2018, the 38-year-old made 42 transactions amounting to £230,251 from her grandmother’s account to her own, which at the time had just £40 in it.
The former model pleaded guilty to theft at Northampton Crown Court and was handed a suspended sentence, avoiding serving time because she is the sole carer for her young child.
The court heard how she spent the money travelling around the world – including to Los Angeles – as well as on high-end hotels, designer clothes and cosmetic treatments.
Her mother became ‘concerned’ about her lavish lifestyle as she was still unemployed and living in a house she had bought her in Naseby. Subsequently, she contacted the bank and then the police.
FacebookThe police obtained bank statements for the grandmother’s account and discovered the transactions to Evans-Schreiber, which had been labelled ‘Bills’, ‘Care’, and ‘Savings’. However, when officers searched her house they found ‘luxury products’ including designer shoes, clothing, handbags and sunglasses.
The defence noted that although she admitted stealing the money, she had left enough for the care and bills of her grandmother – at the time police were contacted there was around £5,500 left in the account.
Judge Rebecca Crane said her sentencing decision was ‘very difficult’ as the 38-year-old is the sole carer for her young child, the BBC reported. She also said Evans-Schreiber had suffered from depression and spent time for alcohol addiction at the Priory Clinic in 2018.
FacebookThe judge described the sentence of two years, suspended for 20 months, as a ‘second chance’, stating: ‘Do not come to this court asking for a second chance, that is what you have been given with this sentence.’
Evans-Schreiber also has to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work and attend an alcohol treatment programme for six months.
The victim, who recently died at the age of 95 after being diagnosed with dementia in 2014, had never become aware of what had happened.
Rest in peace.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).