Facing jail: Mother Cathy Watson, 44, stole her disabled daughter's compensation money to live like a lottery winner
A mother who stole her disabled
daughter’s compensation money to live like a lottery winner was told
yesterday she faces a long prison sentence.
Cathy
Watson, 44, plundered the £2.6million medical negligence payout in a
case that exposed shocking failings by the Court of Protection.
She
and her ex-husband Robert Hills, 49, paid for houses, cars, holidays
and even cosmetic surgery using money that the COP was responsible for
ensuring was spent appropriately.
Yesterday Watson was found guilty of theft and transferring criminal property.
Hills admitted theft and gave evidence against his ex-wife.
They
were charged with stealing more than £500,000 from daughter Samantha
Svendsen, now 29, but in reality they spent a lot more.
Hills
met Watson when she was a 19-year-old single mother and legally adopted
Samantha, who suffered brain damage at birth and has cerebral palsy.
After years of legal wrangling, Samantha received the massive payout in 1999, when she was 15.
She is wheelchair-bound, cannot speak or feed herself and needs help 24 hours a day.
The cash was intended to pay for her lifetime of care.
But a police source estimated that only ‘four to seven years’ of money remains and the taxpayer will then have to fund her care.
The trial at Doncaster Crown Court raised worrying questions about the COP.
It
has jurisdiction over the affairs of people who lack mental capacity to
make decisions for themselves, with most hearings being held in
private.
Watson was given
the authority to deal with Samantha’s finances and interests by the COP
through its administrative arm at the time, the Public Guardianship
Office.
Robert Hills (left), 49, had previously pleaded guilty to four theft
offences for his part in the crime. Watson (right) was convicted by a
jury at Doncaster Crown Court yesterday
Hills played a major role in
the decisions even though he has 26 convictions, many for dishonesty,
and once served a 21-month jail term.
Despite
this, COP officials in London failed to spot the extravagant spending.
Watson spent £12,000 on breast enlargement surgery and liposuction, and
at least £82,000 on a failed business venture.
Initially
they complied with rules to account for their spending. When they
stopped, the COP sent Watson warning letters which she ignored.
In 2000 the couple bought their council house in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, for £22,000.
In
2002 they persuaded the COP to send them £56,000 for the purchase. It
was unaware they already owned it – as a simple Land Registry search
would have revealed.
Another £156,000 was later transferred
to buy two adjoining properties in Laceby, near Grimsby. The pair sold
them and spent the proceeds.
All three houses should have been registered in Samantha’s name by order of the COP but were not.
Officials
had no idea their instructions had been disregarded and in 2004 the COP
sanctioned the purchase of a holiday villa in Florida and sent £235,000
to the couple. But they began divorce proceedings and spent the cash.
Watson’s dishonesty came to light when she wanted to put Samantha into a care home and go holiday.
They fell out, social services became involved and police began an investigation in 2010.
Yesterday Watson was told by Judge Jacqueline Davies, who adjourned sentence, that she faces a ‘significant’ jail term.
One
of the trial lawyers said the COP had not ‘covered themselves in glory’
and Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming said the case was one of a number
of COP failings.
‘When the
watchdog is asleep and doesn’t bark then the system fails,’ he said.
‘The Government needs to review the operations of the public guardian.’
dailymail.co.uk
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