A Fife man who stole £3,700 from the bank account of his sick, elderly grandmother over a two-month period has avoided a jail sentence.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard the victim was 82 years old, rarely left her home and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
Over a period of almost two months, Lewis Davies repeatedly took her bank card and withdrew sums from her account to pay back drug debt.
Davies, 23, of Spittalfield Crescent, Inverkeithing, previously admitted that between February 11 and April 6 this year at Mount Hooly Crescent, North Queensferry, he stole a bank debit card in the name of his grandmother.
He also admitted that between the same dates at High Street, Inverkeithing, St Leonards Street, East Port and High Street, Dunfermline, and elsewhere in Fife, he stole £3,700 by means of a dishonestly-acquired bank card and Pin.
He returned for sentencing yesterday and depute fiscal Louise Ward told the court that the victim suffers from Alzheimer’s and requires help to leave her home.
Davies repeatedly visited his grandmother during the dates when it was later discovered that money was being taken out of her account.
“Relatives of the complainer were suspicious because she had been unable to leave her home during this time,” Ms Ward continued.
The relatives confirmed that the grandmother’s bank card was in her purse but it was also known that Davies had been at her home around the time of the withdrawals.
Police were contacted and when CCTV images from the banks were checked, Davies was identified.
Defence solicitor Stephen Morrison said his client had previously taken cocaine and became “desperate” after running up debts to drug dealers in Edinburgh who threatened him and his mother.
Mr Morrison went on, “He appears to be genuinely distraught at what he’s done as he previously had a very close relationship with his grandmother.”
He had helped her in her home, gone to the shops for messages and was given her bank card and Pin for this purpose.
The solicitor said family members were “unforgiving” of his client’s actions with the exception of his mother who maintained contact despite “strongly disapproving” of the theft.
“He hopes that with the passage of time he may allowed back into the fold,” Mr Morrison said.
Davies, who is unemployed, is to pay compensation at the rate of £10 a fortnight. Sheriff Craig McSherry deferred sentence until February 11 to monitor payment.