A heartless retired police officer stole £30k from his father’s account while he lay in hospital dying.
James Kelly “compulsively” spent the cash on CDs and clothes from Braehead Shopping Centre and on concert tickets for himself.
Kelly, of South Park Drive in Paisley, had been appointed by the court as his father’s financial and welfare guardian due to his incapacity to look after his own money.
But the 64-year-old breached the position of trust and embezzled the cash for his own living expenses and in order to “fund his lifestyle”.
He “neglected the welfare” of his father, who has since passed away.
Procurator fiscal depute Michael Cunningham told Paisley Sheriff Court Kelly was appointed by the court as the financial and welfare guardian to his father in October 2015 due to his father being deemed “incapable of looking after his financial affairs”.
He was living with dementia and at that time residing within the care of the acute admissions unit at Dykebar Hospital in Paisley.
Mr Cunningham explained: “The accused’s father’s incapacity was described as permanent.
“The accused was trusted with safeguarding his father’s accounts. However the accused was required to submit bank statements in relation to his father’s accounts to the office of public guardian for review.
“On May 27, 2017, the witness Ironside, who is an account review officer for the office of public guardian, was in receipt of bank statements submitted by the accused.
“On reviewing these, Ironside noted high and frequent cash withdrawals between May 2016 and October 2016.
“Ironside deemed these withdrawals to be suspicious given the accused’s father was in the care of Dykebar Hospital, in receipt of benefits and with no large expenditures pertaining to his care which indicated that the account should be accumulating funds.
“Due to this, Ironside highlighted this to her supervisor, the witness Colquhoun.
“Account review manager Colquhoun calculated the total withdrawals between the review period of March 4, 2016 and May 30, 2017 to be £30,000.
“Due to this, the accused was requested to attend the office of public guardian to discuss the accounts.”
Court heard Kelly attended an account review on July 8, 2017, where he presented a personal statement stating he had been responsible for withdrawing “large sums” of cash from his father’s account from ATMs, particularly at Braehead Shopping Centre.
Mr Cunningham added: “He had spent the money on clothes and shoes for his father, CDs, clothes and concert tickets for himself.
“The accused stated in the statement he was suffering from depression and was acting compulsively through illness and was thoroughly ashamed of himself.
“The matter was reported to the police and Colquhoun also submitted a request to the court requesting the accused be replaced as financial and welfare guardian to his father.”
Defence agent Jim Clarke told the court, Kelly “recognises this reaches the custody threshold”.
He added: “He spent the money on himself and family members which was of no benefit to him as he now leads a solitary life.
“His second marriage came to an end when this matter was reported.
“We had him assessed and the psychiatrist noted he had said he had been compulsive in his spending, it was chaotic spending.
“Although he enjoys a pension as a retired police officer, he would only be able to make repayment of £200 per month which would take around 12-and-a-half years to repay the balance.”
Sheriff Sheena Fraser stated: “It’s such a substantial amount of money and who bears the loss of that
now.
“I’m going to continue this matter to allow enquiries to be made.”
Sentence was deferred for enquiries into the estate to be made by Kelly’s defence team.
Kelly will return for sentencing next month and his bail was continued meantime.
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