Detectives hope victims conned by a Fife funeral director can “find some sort of solace” in his conviction for selling them fake prepaid funeral plans.
Police were tipped off by a former staff member and searched four premises – in Rosyth, Kirkcaldy, Cardenden and Cowdenbeath – run by undertaker Barry Stevenson-Hamilton in October 2019.
They seized documentation which showed paperwork had not been correctly processed.
Stevenson-Hamilton, 39, pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than £130,000 when he appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court this week.
His bogus plans were uncovered by staff who worked for the firm and eventually challenged him.
Ultimately, he admitted selling more than 40 phoney plans by fraudulently offering prepaid funeral care packages from branches of Stevenson Funeral Directors in Fife.
He sold plans, purported to be with Cheshire-based funeral giants Avalon, which did not exist.
Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane remanded him in custody, which triggered applause from victims sitting in the public gallery.
Police hope for ‘solace’
Following the court case, Detective Constable Gillian McEwan said: “What Stevenson did is a complete betrayal of trust.
“It has been an incredibly stressful time for the people involved.
“Despite believing they had paid for their funeral arrangements, thereby relieving the financial burden from their families, they have been left in the lurch, with no policy, no money and no funds to buy a new policy.
“I hope that seeing Stevenson being held to account for his crimes can offer them some sort of solace.”
The court heard on Tuesday Dunfermline CID investigated and contacted witnesses named in documentation.
Procurator fiscal depute Claire Bremner said a compliance manager at Avalon was contacted.
He confirmed plans sold to members of the public by Stevensons had not been recorded on Avalon’s system and that they did not hold any such plans.
Fake funeral plans
Sarah Yorke, the principle funeral director at Stevenson Funeral Directors at the time, told The Courier she was suspicious after a colleague said a family had been in touch questioning the funeral plan paperwork.
Ms Yorke said she then examined funeral plan folders in Rosyth and Kirkcaldy and discovered original application forms for the plans were still there.
They should have been sent to Avalon.
The 40-year-old said she spent time copying those originals, as well as copying payment receipts and fake Stevenson certificates which, she says, were sent out to clients in place of the correct Avalon paperwork.
One family of a Fife pensioner swindled out of nearly £3,000 for his own pre-paid funeral also told this newspaper he nearly died after suffering a stroke brought on by the stress of losing the money.
Doctors told Tina McLean they did not know if her father Edward Plant, 77, would survive the major health scare, which happened in hospital after he’d been taken there having already suffered a smaller stroke.
Tina said her dad had started suffering strokes about 11 years ago and wanted to put funeral arrangements in place.
The funds lost were taken from savings belonging to Mr Plant and his wife, Christina, who are both from Cardenden.
Stevenson-Hamilton is due to be sentenced for his crimes on August 25, pending the production of background reports.
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