Peter Littler swindled £166,000 from a grieving household after being appointed executor of their beloved one’s property.
The 61-year-old stole 1000’s from a grieving household (Picture: Lancs Stay/MEN Media)
A fraudster stole 1000’s of kilos from a grieving household after being appointed executor of the need of their useless relative, a court docket has heard. Peter Littler, 61, was tasked with distributing Joseph Webster’s £166,000 inheritance pretty amongst his kids and grandchildren after his loss of life. However when the deceased man’s home was offered, Littler failed handy the proceeds over to solicitors, who would go it over to the rightful heirs, and as a substitute pocketed the money himself.
He ignored repeated pleas from the household to give up the cash and at one level insisted he may “do what he needed” as executor of the need, The Solar studies. The 61-year-old spent round £3,000 on a sixtieth party and £2,000 on semen from an Olympic racecourse, in addition to sending cash to a member of the family caring for a kid who had most cancers and paying off his overdraft.
Littler was sentenced to 40 months in jail at Preston Crown Court docket (Picture: MEN Media)
Littler’s spouse Karen had been estranged from her father, Joseph Webster, for a number of years, Preston Crown Court docket heard.
The pair reconciled simply months earlier than his loss of life, nevertheless, with Ms Littler reportedly taking consolation in offering end-of-life look after her father.
Mr Webster appointed Littler as executor of his will simply weeks earlier than his loss of life in September 2022.
Ms Littler advised the court docket that her husband – from whom she has since separated – was the breadwinner within the marriage and equipped her with cash.
When Mr Webster’s home was offered in Might 2023, Littler was on account of switch the proceeds to a solicitor who was coping with the property, however as a substitute moved the funds to his personal checking account as a substitute.
The 61-year-old, previously of Tarporley Highway, Stretton, Cheshire, was arrested and later summoned to court docket on expenses of fraud by abuse of place.
He pleaded responsible and was sentenced to 40 months in jail at Preston Crown Court docket final week.
Karen Littler stated the case had put bodily, emotional and monetary pressure on the household, accusing her former associate of getting “zero regret” for the “irreversible harm” he precipitated.
A sufferer affect assertion learn: “His suggestion [that] I solely reconciled with my father for monetary achieve is a really merciless and calculated lie. I returned to obtain my father’s apology and I accepted it and nursed him to his loss of life.
“My father could be heartbroken. He needed us to grow to be associates once more – it was his dying want.”
Sentencing Littler, Decide Michael Maher stated he had dedicated “manifest abuse” of the household’s belief.
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“Due to your personal monetary difficulties and your prolific spending, you shamelessly cheated six beneficiaries out of a considerable inheritance from a much-loved father and grandfather,” he continued.
“Your corrupt and egocentric actions disadvantaged them of the power to make monetary decisions in their very own lives, similar to lowering mortgage funds, renovating, shifting home or taking holidays, merely to make their lives simpler.”
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