A gambling addict conned £20,000 from her blind father after asking him to sign a letter – which was actually a form for a bank loan.
Sneaky Suzanne Cooper, 29, gave her dad Ray, 69, the piece of paper and told him it was a family letter which she wanted him to sign.
But it was actually a direct debit mandate attached to an agreement with Lloyds TSB for a £20,000 loan.
Cooper, of Camborne, Cornwall, then took the money and ”fluttered it all away” on line to feed her gambling addiction.
She admitted obtaining money by deception at Truro Crown Court and will be sentenced at a later date.
Ramsay Quaife, prosecuting, said Ray lost his wife in early 2008 and ”relied and trusted” his daughter who moved in to live with him.
He said: ”As he was unable to sign a cheque or pay a bill because of his sight Suzanne Cooper became his attorney and was a joint signatory on his bank account.
”In January 2009 a woman helping in his household found three unopened letters beneath a cushion. One was a bank statement which, when she read it to him, almost caused Mr Cooper to fall out of his chair.
”The bank suggested he should go into the local branch, where he had an impeccable record, and they told him the loan had been applied for and was credited to his account.
”This was news to Mr Cooper who put two and two together and the police were informed.”
Suzanne later claimed she had told her father about the loan but a bank employee had noted odd entries related to gambling sites and cheques for £3,000 and £6,000 had been made payable to her.
Defence counsel Jo Martin said Cooper was guilty of a gross breach of trust but no longer had a gambling addiction.
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
