Cleaner and partner fleeced blind, dementia-suffering World War Two veteran out of £188k to buy house, court hears
Scheming Veronica Robinson allegedly took the 'besotted' 90-year-old widower on trips to the bank with Robert Homer and got him to sign cheque giving them his life-savings
A CLEANER and her partner fleeced a blind World War Two veteran out of £188,000 to buy a house, a court heard.
Veronica Robinson allegedly got the “besotted” dementia-hit widower in his 90s to sign a cheque from his life savings.
The money was spent on a home, Wolverhampton crown court was told.
Robinson, 61, and Robert Homer, 66, took the man on what they called “Bonnie and Clyde” trips to the bank, it was said.
She and Homer, 66, allegedly took complete control over the man's life, even changing the locks on his home to keep long-term friends with keys out.
The £8.50-an-hour cleaner, who was known as Sue by her employer, also persuaded him to sign a £188,000 cheque, allegedly written by her, from his life savings which was used to buy a house in Halesowen, West Mids, the jury heard.
Mark Jackson, prosecuting, said: "Slowly but surely, with the help of her co-accused, she isolated him from the network of friends and family because she wanted to exercise the necessary power to control his financial affairs.
"He became totally dependent on her and was almost besotted with her. She systematically abused her position of trust in a determined and well planned way, defrauding him out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
"This vulnerable man was easy prey for them to manipulate. They made him think he was dependent on them as they set about stripping him of his life savings."
The twice-married widower was registered blind with a degenerative condition and reportedly suffered from dementia.
His son and stepson both lived abroad but remained close to him, the court heard.
When the concerned children restricted the amount of money their father could take out from the bank, Robinson and Homer tried to overturn it.
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Eventually, the sons and Dudley Council urged the Court of Protection to intervene.
Robinson, of High Haden Road, Cradley Heath, denies fraud by abusing her position as a carer to make gain for herself and another between October 2014 and September 2015.
She further pled not guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice by misleading the Court of Protection in Birmingham.
Homer, of the same address, denies two charges of fraud. The trial continues.