Uncle of meningitis sufferer jailed for stealing £315,000 from trust fund
A banker who stole £315,000 from the trust fund of his five-year-old niece after she lost her limbs to meningitis has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Ellie May Challis had hundreds of thousands donated into a trust following reports she had lost her arms and legs aged 16 months old.
Her uncle Darren Pease, 33, was made one of two trustees with access to her money due to his financial acumen but was caught using the money to pay for jewellery and holidays in a bid to save his marriage, Basildon Crown Court heard.
The court heard that Pease, from Dagenham, Essex, initially took money from the account to pay for a credit card-bill and intended to repay it. However this spiralled out of control and Pease handed himself into police earlier this year when the family found there was only £239 left in the fund.
Father-of-two Pease, who earlier pleaded guilty to 18 counts of committing fraud while in a position of trust and obtaining property by deception and asked for another 31 offences to be taken into consideration, had also taken £65,000 from his grandmother's life savings, the court heard.
Who says crime doesn't pay?
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