Great-grandfather robbed of £150,000 by ‘trusted’ family members

A thief who helped steal his father-in-law's dream home has kept his freedom after his wife who masterminded the scam took her own life.

Great-grandfather William Gaunt, who had always lived in rented homes, received a £150,000 compensation payout in 2009 after a road crash that left him badly injured and unable to manage stairs.

The pensioner, now 77, planned to use the money to buy a much needed bungalow and trusted his daughter Lorraine Ross, a former tax credit fraud investigator turned counsellor, to help.

But the court heard she and her husband Stuart Ross convinced Mr Gaunt to hand over the money to them and bought an unsuitable house in Washington, Tyne and Wear, with stairs, which the pensioner did not like or want but reluctantly agreed to move into.

Prosecutor Matthew Hopkins said the couple refused to allow Mr Gaunt access to his cash and acted as if the money was theirs to spend.

Just four years after he received the payout, the pensioner was back in rented accommodation and the couple remortgaged then moved into the house that was bought in Stuart Ross's name, with Mr Gaunt's money.

At Newcastle Crown Court in March Lorraine and Stuart Ross were convicted of theft after a trial.

Lorraine Ross was also convicted of fraud in relation to a housing benefit application she made in relation to the house, which stated Mr Gaunt was a tenant there.

At the sentence hearing today the court heard Lorraine Ross took her own life after she was convicted.

Judge Julie Clemitson said she was satisfied she had been provided with enough evidence of the death to conclude that the indictment against her no longer has legal effect.

The judge said it was Lorraine Ross who breached a higher degree of trust in relation to the offending and sentenced her husband to 16 months, suspended for two years.

Judge Clemitson told him: "I bear in mind the events that have taken place between the trial and now."

The judge added: "It is sadly very easy to see how Mr Gaunt could be manipulated by his daughter.

"He knew she worked as a fraud investigator, or believed she did, and he trusted her.

"It is also clear he could be easily bamboozled by his daughter, which is a word he used at trial.

"It is easy to see how he might not be able to assert himself in the face of a strong, motivated daughter who knew what she wanted him to do."

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Michael Cahill, defending, said Stuart Ross has no previous convictions and added: "This man's life has been devastated, not only from this conviction but from the loss of his partner."

Mr Cahill said Ross was suffering "extreme grief" and in "great distress" and added: "He's in employment, on phased return to work, trying to make the best of the life he's going to lead."

During the trial, the victim Mr Gaunt, who gave evidence during the trial, told the court: "I wanted to buy a bungalow so I could do away with the stairs and steps. She said 'I will try and find you one'.

"Lorraine said I would lose my pension if I paid that money into my account."

The pensioner said he believed his daughter would use the money to buy a bungalow for him, in his name, but ended up in a house he did not want.

He told the court he was not happy in the house they bought and added: "I didn't like the stairs."

Mr Hopkins said Mr Gaunt had been renting homes his "whole life" and wanted to use the compensation money for a bungalow but added: "She convinced him to pay £140,000 of the compensation money into her partner Stuart Ross's bank account.

"She said it would make it easier for her to help find him the bungalow if he did that.

"Once in the bank account, they would not let him have access to his own money. They wouldn't give him a debit card to withdraw the money himself from the account.

"What they did do was buy him a house in Washington and used the compensation money to pay for it. They purchased it in March 2010 for the sum of £90,000.

"They didn't ask him if he wanted that house. The Crown say they didn't ask him because they knew he wouldn't want it, it was not a bungalow. He moved in in around April 2010."

The court heard Stuart Ross was listed as the owner of the property and Lorraine Ross applied for housing benefit in her dad's name stating he was a tenant renting the house.

Lorraine Ross sent a letter to Sunderland Council asking if the housing benefit could be paid to the owner Stuart Ross rather than her dad but the request was refused.

When the pensioner said he was uncomfortable receiving benefits for a house he believed he owned, Lorraine Ross threatened him that he would get into trouble with the police if he paid it back.

Mr Hopkins added: "Sometimes she would ask the complainant if she could lend money for specific items like a new car or new bathroom even though, the Crown say, she never had any intention of paying it back.

"Other times, she and her partner would simply withdraw money from the ATM without even asking for permission to do so, acting as if the money was essentially theirs.

"The Crown say in this case they stole it from him and used it in ways he never agreed to."

The court heard the house was "totally unsuitable" for the pensioner and his medical needs and in April 2013 he moved into a rented bungalow.

In 2013 the pensioner asked for and was given £10,000 of the compensation money.

Meanwhile, the couple remortgaged the house they had originally bought for the pensioner and moved into it themselves "completely without asking".

Mr Hopkins said the pensioner eventually got hold of Stuart Ross's debit card and started withdrawing his compensation money out of ATMs.

In 2019 another family member involved the police.

Lorraine Ross, 52, of Westward Place, Washington and Stuart Ross, 52, of Waskerley Road, Barmston, Washington both denied the charges.