Convicted thief used power of attorney to steal aunt's
estate
10 September 2012
A Derbyshire second-hand car dealer has been
jailed for two years for selling his elderly aunt's home and
embezzling the proceeds while acting as her attorney.
The 92-year-old widow, Betty Harrison of
Mickleover, had to move into a care home after she developed
dementia in 2006. Her nephew Max Alvey applied for and obtained
power of attorney to manage her affairs, even though he already had
a criminal record for various offences described as money
laundering.
Alvey then sold Mrs Harrison’s house and
deposited the GBP120,000 proceeds into her building society
account. Soon, using the power of attorney, he began to move it
piecemeal into other accounts he controlled.
Alvey's plundering of the widow's estate was
temporarily interrupted by another spell in prison, this time for
possessing stolen property. But his power of attorney remained
effective and when he came out he resumed the process of
transferring cash from her account into to his own.
During this time, the manager of the care home
where Mrs Harrison lived was becoming suspicious, partly because
Alvey was reluctant to part with his aunt's money for either her
welfare or for her residential care fees. The Derbyshire Building
Society was also becoming concerned about the suspicious
transactions. In August 2010 both parties reported the concerns to
the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).
The OPG investigated and duly passed its
findings on to the police. By the time Alvey was arrested, he had
taken GBP125,000 from his aunt's account. The police have found no
trace of it and assume he has spent it all, though they intend to
bring a Proceeds of Crime action against him.
Alvey's counsel said in mitigation that he
would have inherited the money anyway, and only took it early
because it would otherwise have been confiscated by his trustee in
bankruptcy.
Sources
Derby Telegraph
Nottingham Post
BBC
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