A dental nurse cleaned out her father’s bank account and stole thousands of pounds he had inherited as a result of his own father’s death.
Yasmin Lizanec hatched a plan to get her hands on the money while her father was being held on remand in Perth Prison.
Lizanec – who also runs a food business – was arrested after confessing to her father William Wilson during a phone call recorded by prison staff.
The 24-year-old of Lorne Street, Edinburgh, admitted stealing £4,000 from her father at his home in Blairgowrie between November 27 2017 and February 9 2018.
Depute fiscal Bill Kermode told Perth Sheriff Court: “The complainer is her father and he was on remand in Perth Prison. He got an inheritance from his late father’s estate of £12,000.
“That was paid into his account in the form of a cheque from his solicitors. Once that cleared he withdrew £7,000 cash to repay debts.”
Lizanec asked her father’s partner for keys to his Blairgowrie home and she was given them as they thought she was planning to pick up clothes to take to him. However, she never turned up at the prison with any clothes and the house key was not returned to her father or his partner.
Mr Kermode said: “He decided to check his bank balance and found that £4,000 had been transferred out via an online transaction and the account was empty.
“There had been a direct transfer to the accused’s TSB account.
“He reported it to the police and it was investigated.
“On February 9 2018 he phoned his daughter. He told her he had just found out his bank account was empty and that he suspected it was her.
“She didn’t say anything about it on the phone at that point, but he still suspected she was responsible.”
She sent him an email the next day, asking him to call urgently.
“He called her again and she admitted she had stolen money from his bank account.
“She advised she had got the details from his mail. That call was recorded.”
Lizanec had used Mr Wilson’s own mail about his account to back up her creation of an online transfer of the money to her own account. She told her father she planned to pay the money back.
Solicitor Billy Somerville, defending, said: “She accepts full responsibility and that there was a degree of planning.”
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis ordered Lizanec to perform 180 hours’ unpaid work in the community and said: “This involved actions which were thought out.
“Some thought was given to how the money was to be dishonestly acquired and, at the end of the day, it is a fairly significant sum.”
