Mum ‘stole’ £50,000 inheritance left for her OWN daughters by their gran before ‘splashing cash at Primark and New Look’
A MUM stole a £50,000 inheritance left for her own daughters by their gran, a court has heard.
Katherine Hill, 53, splashed out on shopping trips to Primark and New Look after allegedly raiding the bequest.
Gran Margaret had left the money to Hill's daughters Gemma and Jessica - but said they could only access it when they turned 25.
But Hill and her 93-year-old dad Gerald allegedly took just over a year to drain the account in a "blatant and brazen" fraud.
The pair had been made trustees of the account after Margaret died in 2013.
Prosecutor James Hartson said Hill placed the money in a Barclays Everyday Save Account despite being told not to.
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The saver account gave Hill instant access to the money she had been trusted to manage for her daughters.
Swansea Crown Court heard Katherine and Gerald both had cards for the account.
Most of the £50,000 had been emptied through cash withdrawals within 12 months of the account being opened, the court heard.
The alleged fraud was only detected when one of the girls asked for her money early so she could buy a house with her boyfriend.
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Gerald Hill said he withdrew money and posted it in envelopes through the letterbox of the house where the girls lived.
He told police he did so because the girls were "harassing" their mother for money.
Hill told police she knew nothing about the large withdrawals of cash until her father told her about the envelopes.
The transactions allegedly included one for £15,000 and others for £10,000.
A single bank transfer of £2,300 was made directly into Katherine Hill's account, the court heard.
Hill said the transaction was used to pay for the family's boxer dog to have an operation - which Jessica had agreed to.
She told cops that card payments made at New Look and Primark were for shopping trips on behalf of her daughters.
The mum said: "It was for their benefit - I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong."
Solicitors probed the fund after one of the daughters asked to access her share of the funds early to help buy a house with her boyfriend.
Christopher Thomas - Hill's ex-husband and Jessica and Gemma's dad - then reported the alleged fraud to the police.
The court heard that Katherine Hill's relationship with her daughters became difficult after the divorce from her ex-husband.
She claimed the girls lived a lavish lifestyle with her ex-partner - and would demand money from her for phones, clothes and holidays.
Gerald Hill told cops he and Katherine fell out at one point after he told her that he intended to take his granddaughters out of his will.
He said that he couldn’t see Katherine "suffer" anymore because of the girls - who had got their inheritance as far as he was concerned.
The OAP told cops he gave the majority of £50,000 to them through a letterbox.
He said he "thought it was the best way to do it at the time" and "didn’t want to know them".
DC Aled Brothers said the cash "is impossible to follow" and there was no way to trace the money.
Mr Hill told DC Brothers that he would always protect his daughter, adding: “I’d die for her.”
Prosecutor Hartson described Katherine Hill as a manipulative and dishonest woman.
He said that lies were "comfortable and easy" for Hill and that she was "no stranger to chucking members of her family under the bus."
The barrister said the pair are "thoroughly dishonest" and had acted contrary to their roles as trustees for the youngsters' money.
He said that the pair were guilty of a "blatant and brazen" fraud in respect of the inheritance.
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Katherine Hill of Pontardawe, and Gerald Hill, Gower, both deny fraud by abuse of position.
The trial at Swansea Crown Court continues.
