A MOTHER was ordered to pay back £50,000 “looted” from her own daughters inheritance left to them in their grandmother’s will.
Katherine Hill, 54, and her father Gerald Hill, 94, staged a “blatant and brazen” fraud, taking every penny inherited by the two girls from their beloved gran.
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The sizeable £50,000 inheritance was generously gifted for Gemma and Jessica Thomas by their grandmother Margaret Hill in a trust for their 25th birthdays.
Margaret died in 2013 and placed the money for the two girls in a trust when Jessica was 12 and Gemma was 15.
Katherine Hill and her father Gerald were trustees of the account – but drained it completely within just over a year while the girls were still children.
A court heard that due to inflation the sum stolen by their “greedy and spiteful” mother and grandfather was now worth in the region of £65,000.
But their shameless mother and grandfather tried to lie their way out of it by claiming they posted cash in envelopes through the girls’ letterboxes.
However the Hills were found guilty – with Katherine Hill jailed for 30 months and her father handed a 12 month suspended sentence.
The judge told Hill she stole the money because she was “so annoyed that your daughters received more money than you, that you took their inheritance”.
The court heard Katherine Hill had placed the money into an instant access Barclays Everyday Saver account despite being advised not to.
She and her father both had cards for the account and within 12 months of it opening most of the £50,000 had been withdrawn through cash withdrawals.
The fraud was only realised in 2018 when one of the girls asked for her money early so she could buy a house with her boyfriend.
The Hills returned to Swansea Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime Hearing in a bid to claw back their ill-gotten gains.
Prosecutor James Hartson said Hill initially told investigators she had a 50 per cent equity share in her partner’s home after paying the mortgage for nine years.
But she later withdrew the claim and said she had no equitable right to the house – with Mr Hartson saying her change of stance was a “thoroughly dishonest” attempt to avoid payment.
Judge, Recorder Greg Bull KC ruled in favour of the prosecution, and said Hill had “laundered” some of her daughters’ money by paying her partner’s mortgage.
He said Hill and window cleaner Phillip Lloyd “lived together as man and wife” and she could repay her daughters by raising equity from their home.
Recorder Bull said: “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.
“Mr Lloyd is fully aware of what happened to that £50,000 and has probably helped her at least launder it, if not enjoy the fruits of her fraud.”
Recorder Bull said: “That £50,000 was used for the benefit of both of them, it would have been used to pay the mortgage, it would have been used to pay their utilities, it would have used to enjoy their lifestyles – a lifestyle that they would not have been able to afford.”
“This is a couple who lived as man and wife, they shared their income and they shared the money looted by Miss Hill from her daughters.”
Katherine Hill was told she must pay £50,000 in three months or face six month prison in default.
Mr Hill was ordered to pay £6,000 for his part in the fraud or face three months in prison.
The court heard if neither of the Hills pay they will be jailed but their debts would not be cleared.
