Man who took over £8000 from elderly woman's bank account before Derry court

Bradley Thompson, (31) an assembly fitter from Canterbury Park in the Waterside area of the city withdrew the money from his victim's Danske Bank account over a three month period starting in March 2023 at a time when the victim, who had memory issues, was living in a care home.

Thompson also withdrew £1,320 from a Danske Bank account in the name of the victim's daughter over the same period.

In court he pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud by false representation by using the bank cards belonging to his two victims to withdraw the monies from their accounts.

He then used the money to fund his drugs and alcohol addictions.

A prosecution barrister told Judge Roseanne McCormick K.C. that Thompson gained access to the two bank cards when he moved in to live with the daughter who had been entrusted by her mother to use her bank card to purchase items for her when required.

The court heard that the daughter said she had given the defendant the PIN codes to both her own and her mother's cards as her mother had memory issues.

A prosecutor told the court the woman had trusted the defendant to make certain withdrawals only. She told the police that during the time the defendant was staying with her a number of irregular payments were made from her mother's account which she noticed after receiving a statement from her mother's bank.

The barrister said in May 2023 the police received information about a potential fraud. The daughter was interviewed under caution in relation to her permitting the defendant to use her mother's card and a no prosecution decision was made.

Three months later Thompson was interviewed. He admitted using the daughter's bank card but said due to his addiction issues he did not realise the other card belonged to the mother.

Thompson described the two bank cards as identical and said he could not tell which he was being handed. He said he was handed the card and given the PIN on each occasion and denied ever taking either card without the daughter's knowledge or permission.

Judge McCormick described Thompson's offending as highly culpable.

"This defendant clearly abused the trust placed in him. I note that both the police and probation service say that he's shown remorse and that he's ashamed of his offending in this case", she said.

She said she also took into account the fact that Thompson suffers from depression and is half way through his probationary period with a new employer who had given him a character reference. Judge McCormick said she further took into consideration Thompson's ongoing participation with specialist counselling services.

After imposing the community service hours and the probationary supervision, Judge McCormick told Thompson that in relation to the money he'd taken "there will be full restitution in this case". She ordered Thompson to pay compensation of £1,320 by October 27 and that she would review the outstanding £8,489.76 on December 14.