A dad stole his teenage son’s £38,000 inheritance and spent it on drink, drugs, and a holiday, a court has heard.
Daniel Caulfield’s mother had set up a savings fund for her grandson to be given to him when he turned 18 and he planned to use it to pay for university.
However when the generous grandmother died the defendant became a trustee for the accounts – and promptly looted them.
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Swansea Crown Court heard that in 2010 Caulfield’s mother put money into a National Savings and Investments accounts for her grandson, Caulfield’s estranged son.
Helen Randall, prosecuting, said the woman passed away in 2015 by which time there was £38,167.99 in the account. As the beneficiary of the account was not yet 18 Caulfield and his sister became join trustees of the fund. However, unknown to his sibling, Caulfield emptied the accounts and spend all the money.
The court heard that when the teenager turned 18 he wrote to his father and aunt asking for the money but his father replied that there was none left and he had spent it all on drugs and alcohol.
Police were alerted and in his subsequent interview at Llanelli police station 38-year-old Caulfield admitted the wrongdoing and said he was sorry. In an impact statement read the the court the teenage victim said he had planned to use to money to go to university or to put it towards buying a house.
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Daniel Richard Caulfield, now of Milton, Tenby, Pembrokeshire, admitted fraud. The defendant has previous convictions, from 2005 and 2008, for driving with excess alcohol.
John Allchurch, for Caulfield, said his client accepts his behaviour was “reprehensible and inexcusable” and that he has let down his own son.
He said the defendant ran a carpet cleaning business and had got into financial difficulties as a result of health problems brought about by his use of drugs. He told the court some of the missing money had been spent on a holiday but most had gone on alcohol and drugs – “something the defendant cannot be proud of”.
The advocate added that the defendant wanted to establish a “repayment plan” to pay his son back.
Judge Paul Thomas QC told Caulfield it was difficult to imagine a more “despicable” offence than the one he had committed. He said the defendant had been “singularly unhelpful” in providing details of exactly where the money had gone and he was “far from satisfied” that the court knew exactly what had gone on. However he said those matters would be left to the Proceeds of Crime Act financial investigation which would now follow.
The judge said he hoped the defendant had found his five days on remand in prison since last week’s adjourned sentencing hearing “a miserable experience” and he said he was persuaded by the contents of the pre-sentence report which concluded that there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in his case.
Giving the defendant a one-third discount for his guilty plea the judge sentenced him to 20 months in prison suspended for two years and ordered him to complete a 240 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation course.
Caulfield broke down in tears in the dock as the sentenced was passed.
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