Son sent to prison for stealing £16K from his parents, aged in their 90s

A son has been sent to prison for stealing thousands of pounds from his elderly parents.

The couple, aged in their 90s, had £16,200 stolen from them in 2013. An investigation discovered that the perpetrator was their son Brian Horsley.

Horsley, 67, from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, pleaded guilty to four charges of theft from his parents over a seven month period at York Crown Court on July 3.

He was back in court on August 13, when he was sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment.

A breach of trust

Carried out by Veritau on behalf of City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police, the investigation was triggered when council officers found that the couple’s assets had rapidly depleted.

This was shortly after an assessment which showed they were able to fund their own care.

In mitigation, Mr Horsley’s defence claimed he had had a previously good character and had served in the RAF for 36 years.

His Honour Judge Worsley QC told Mr Horsley: “You were in a position of trust and you breached that.”

Judge Worsley also described how Mr Horsley used the money he stole from his parents to pay off his mortgage, clear credit card debts and fund holidays.

Justice was done

Commenting on the sentence North Yorkshire Police financial investigator Paul Dowsland said:

• Brian Horsley’s parents trusted their son to take care of their finances in their later years of life.

  Instead, he abused their trust by conducting fraudulent activity over a sustained period of time for his own personal gain.

  We worked tirelessly with Veritau to investigate this case and make sure that Horsley was made to realise the immorality of his crimes.

  The sentence reflects how serious this crime is and serves as a reminder to those entrusted with such responsibility yet choose to abuse it, that they will be brought to justice.

Councillor Helen Douglas, City of York Council’s executive member with responsibility for fraud, said: “This sentence reflects the severity of that breach of trust and will hopefully deter others by demonstrating the consequences of abusing vulnerable people in our society.”