JAIL FOR WOMAN WHO STOLE FROM HER FAMILY

A HEMEL woman who stole a total of £4,000 from her 80 year old grandmother and her father was jailed for 8 weeks on Wednesday.

Michelle Wray, 28, set up a direct debit on Rosina Tatum's Nat West account for her mobile phone. In the course of last year she also stole cheques to pay for items including food and took £500 to settle a personal loan, St Albans crown court was told.

Prosecutor David Chrimes said the total amount taken from the grandmother's account was £2,500. He said: "This was not the first time she had stolen from her grandmother and it amounts to a gross breach of trust."

Mr Chrimes said a Power of Attorney had been granted so the elderly lady's financial affairs were now being properly handled.

When Michelle Wray was arrested it emerged she had used an Egg account that had been in her father, Kevin's name, to make purchases amounting to £1,500. "The defendant covered up her use of the card by intercepting mail at the house," said Mr Chrimes.

Wray, of Smithfields, Hemel, appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to fraud. She had previous convictions for fraud, including stealing from her grandmother and from an employer. She was in breach of a six-month sentence suspended for two years passed in 2007 for the theft from the employer.

Jessica Sovey, defending, said Wray initially had permission to use her grandmother's account, but had taken it "too far." She added Wray, who is the mother of a ten week old baby, was "remorseful."

Judge Martin Griffith told her: "You have stolen from your grandmother when you were clearly in a position of trust. You abused your position to set up a direct debit and took in excess of £2,500."

He said he was passing a short custodial sentence to mark what she had done

MAY 2010