A “commercially aggressive” handyman, who reduced a vulnerable widow’s life saving from over £70,000 to almost nothing has been jailed for four years.
John Abrahams, 73, preyed on 88 year-old Dorothy Arnold’s fear of strangers and going into care to exploit what was described as a “predatory relationship.”
Recorder Nicola Shannon told him: “It was a growing greed, a growing avarice, a growing ruthlessness that you took money from each and every source available to you.
“You became merciless and were intent on taking everything she had until her savings were extinguished and arrangements were made whereby you would benefit from the sale of her house.”
Married Abrahams, of Stardust, Genista, Copper Hill, Troon, Camborne was convicted of defrauding the now-deceased Mrs Arnold of £25,650 between January 1 and May 31, 2015.
He was also found guilty to acquiring criminal property, namely £14,200 cash found under his bed when police searched his former home at in Hamlet Court, Village Road, Enfield.
Blackfriars Crown Court heard in the period before the charges Abrahams had received an additional £45,000 from the widow, but this could not be proved as fraudulent.
He was exposed when Mrs Arnold’s stepson found a bogus invoice Abrahams had prepared, purporting the widow agreed to pay him £60 per hour to run simple errands.
Prosecutor Mr. Archie Mackay told the court: “When Mr. Arnold passed away he started to help Mrs Arnold because she was an elderly lady struggling with day-to-day tasks.
“He helped traders fit her kitchen and helped getting food and the like and over four years was in a commercially aggressive relationship.
“Before the indictment period he had taken from her tens of thousands of pounds, which we don’t point to as criminality, but don’t say was a genuine service to an elderly woman.
“By January, 2015 it had become a situation where he was systematically emptying her bank account.
“She was essentially housebound and entirely dependent on Mr. Abrahams.
“He created an environment where she had to rely on him. She was fearful of other routes to assist her and he preyed on that.
“The spectre of social care was a bogeyman as far as Mrs Arnold was concerned.
“It was a systematic attack on her savings. Pretty much every day he had contact with Mrs Arnold maximum withdrawals were made of seven hundred and fifty pounds a time.
“He left behind bogus invoices as a cover for when her money ran out.
“She had healthy savings that she and her late husband had spent a lifetime accruing to very little.
“Even along the way to the hospital to return her bank cards he could not resist withdrawing another seven hundred and fifty pounds.”
In June, 2015 a psychiatrist confirmed Mrs Arnold had signs of early dementia and when police finally explained the fraud to her she said: “Oh my God. I’m just being used.”
“These events and the shattering of her existence hastened her decline and she passed away before the trial began.
“This stopped only because of her hospitalisation,” added Mr. Mackay, describing it as a “predatory relationship.”
Abrahams, now a self-employed delivery driver, claims he was Mrs Arnold’s “beck and call.”
His lawyer, Mr. John Mitchell said: “It got to the point greed got the better of him…..He says on reflection he is ashamed of what he has done.”
A solicitor halted arrangements whereby Abrahams would benefit from the sale of Mrs Arnold’s £660,000 Kentish Town garden flat, which was destined to finance a property in Cornwall.
“You charged exorbitant rates beyond the work undertaken and what would have been charged by a professional carer,” Recorder Shannon told Abrahams.
“You took advantage of her trust. She did not pay much attention because you were a friend.”
When Mrs Arnold was hospitalised after a fall Abrahams had to fetch her bank cards. “It speaks of your callousness that your first action was to make another withdrawal.
“There are payments and withdrawals in previous years that are not explained and powerful evidence this is not an isolated incident.”
Confiscation proceedings will follow.
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