Thorntons paralegal who embezzled more than £40,000 from deceased woman’s account faces jail

A paralegal who pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £40,000 from the estate of her ex-husband’s great aunt is facing prison.

Alison Jackson, 44, who was employed by Thorntons, was caught when the firm audited the accounts of her clients, finding one deceased client’s account had been used to pay for two different funerals.

Ms Jackson admitted she used cash from a family to pay for the funeral of Lillian Grant, whose account she then stole from. She was granted power of attorney in 2006 after Mrs Grant began suffering from dementia.

She took sums ranging from £20 to £2,000.

Following Mrs Grant’s death in 2012, Ms Jackson gave her former husband £1,500, saying that was all that remained of his great aunt’s estate.

However, there were tens of thousands of pounds in the account, which Ms Jackson used to settle payday loan debts.

The former paralegal also failed to inform the Cadbury pension scheme, which made payouts to Mrs Grant as her late husband had been an employee of the chocolate company, of Mrs Grant’s death, meaning it continued to pay cash into her pension pot.

Ms Jackson had this money transferred to her own account for nearly three years after Mrs Grant’s death.

At Dundee Sheriff Court, fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson said that Ms Jackson took more than £3,000 from Thornton’s, over £40,000 from Mrs Grant’s estate and almost £12,700 from Cadbury’s.

She said: “Mrs Grant passed away at the age of 98 and had been living in a care home since 2010 and was suffering from dementia.

“The Jackson family had been happy for the accused to have power of attorney given the expertise she had gained through her employment.

“The accused had unfettered access to Mrs Grant’s bank account through her role as power of attorney.

“From October 24 2010 on the accused gradually began to transfer money from Mrs Grant’s bank account to her own personal account. This continued after Mrs Grant passed away. The sum has never been repaid and should have been passed on to her former mother-in-law, Marion Jackson, following Mrs Grant’s death.”

Ms Jackson pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and embezzlement. Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentence until February.