Wills and probate news: Man steals from friend's savings

People who are interested in wills and probate have been informed that a man has been jailed after abusing his power of attorney to steal money from a friend.

Douglas Latham was recently jailed for 15 months after he stole more than £100,000 from the savings of Elsie Johnson, who suffers from senile dementia, Thisislincolnshire.co.uk reported.

Lincolnshire Crown Court has now revoked Mr Latham's power of attorney and has begun the process to have Mrs Johnson's will – which names Mr Latham and his wife as beneficiaries – changed.

Mr Latham, of Bracebridge Heath, confessed that between November 22nd 2004 and August 21st 2007 he had stolen £48,154 from Ms Johnson. Mr Latham also stole £64, 026 between April 1st 2004 and January 9th 2008.

His actions were only discovered when it was found that there were not sufficient funds to pay for Ms Johnson's care home fees.

Furthermore, last year a man who had power of attorney over his brother who was suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease had his position removed. A judge made the move after he ruled that the sibling was not objective enough when it came to his brother's medical treatment, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Published by Phil Hammond