Man jailed for taking his grandad’s savings

By Staff Reporter

Last updated 13:25, Thursday, 07 August 2008

A man who milked his 83-year-old sick grandfather’s savings has been sent to prison for 10 months after failing to pay any of the money back.

Ritchie Neil Edgar, 21, had previously been told by a judge that he would not be jailed if he repaid the £786 he had taken from Thomas Edward Edgar’s bank account.

But when he returned to Carlisle Crown Court to be sentenced yesterday he had to admit that he had not paid back a penny because he had been unable to get a loan.

Edgar, who used to live in Iredale Crescent, Workington, but has recently been staying with his girlfriend in Church Rigg, Flimby, then produced a letter claiming that his grandfather had forgiven him and didn’t want him punished.

But when Judge Paul Batty QC had it checked with the old man it was found to be untrue.

“It was utterly false – moonshine,” the judge said.

Edgar, who was said to have an “appalling” criminal record and had only recently been released from prison when he took the money last December, pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud.

The court heard Edgar got the money by taking his grandfather’s bank card on an earlier visit when the old man had given him £20.

The next day he returned and confessed that he had done “something awful”.

Even then the pensioner did not believe what his grandson had done until he checked with his bank and found he had no money left in his account.

Judge Batty told Edgar: “For an offence as mean as this only a custodial sentence can follow.”