A man has been jailed for two years after confessing to stealing more than £40,000 from his elderly mother, who gave evidence against him from beyond the grave. Derek Snelling, 64, changed his plea to guilty after hearing a video recording of his late mother, Ellen Snelling, in which she said she wanted to 'wring his bloomin' neck' over the missing money.
Exeter Crown Court heard that Snelling, who was on a state pension, used the stolen funds to fund luxury holidays to Europe and North Africa, as well as a Mediterranean cruise. The fraud spanned six years from 2007 to 2013, with Snelling taking £28,520 from one account and £13,000 from a post office account that received his mother's pension.
Ellen Snelling, who was 93 at the time of the theft and suffered from dementia, died while her son was awaiting trial. She had given a 50-minute video interview to police before her death, which was played in court. Snelling's daughters had raised concerns about their father's expensive holidays, leading to the discovery of the fraud.
Recorder Robert Pawson told Snelling: 'You were living a higher life than you could have done if you had not stolen that money. The sadness is that you were trustworthy for the first significant part of your life. You started defrauding your own mother to the tune of £41,000 and you were shown to be thoroughly untrustworthy when it came down to it.'
Snelling, who had no previous convictions and volunteered with St John Ambulance, the Royal British Legion, and scouting groups, admitted four charges of fraud by abuse of position. He was banned by bail conditions from seeing his dying mother or attending her funeral, but showed the judge a picture of a tree planted in her memory. A confiscation hearing to recover the money for his estranged family will be held later.
