Two women have been jailed for defrauding and laundering more than £634,000 from estates of the deceased, including money intended for charities.
Laurna Porter, 69, and Julie Atkins, 68, both of Tamworth, were sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday to four years and 30 months in prison respectively.
Porter admitted fraud by abuse of position and money laundering, while Atkins had been found guilty of money laundering on 5 February.
Money stolen by the pair was intended for charities including Cancer Research UK, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, local hospices and animal charities, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS said it was not clear how much of the £634,000 was intended for the charities.
While working as a probate manager at two solicitors’ firms, Porter defrauded will beneficiaries over a period of 13 years, police said.
Many of the cheques were paid into Atkins’ account, with a portion of this money later transferred back to Porter, the court heard.
The CPS said the pair’s offences were uncovered when Porter moved firms and a discrepancy was discovered with one of the wills involving a £5,000 payment to Atkins.
“An audit by both firms where she had worked uncovered fraudulent money transfers over a total period of 13 years, involving 23 wills,” said the CPS.
“Porter deliberately targeted victims without close family where she thought the fraud would probably go unnoticed.
“The fraudulent payments were usually disguised in the accounts either as a debt owed by the estate or a gift.”
Anamarie Coomansingh, specialist prosecutor from the CPS, said Porter “abused her position of trust in taking funds from life-saving charities”.
Coomansingh said: “The CPS will now seek to recover any available criminal proceeds from the defendants, in order to compensate the beneficiaries.”