A disabled gran had her savings wiped by young man she treated 'like a son'. Sally Johnson, 73, welcomed Jarrod Moody, 23, into her home only for the thief to steal £3,500 from her by using her card for shopping and swiping extra cash out her account, reports Wales Online.
The 73-year-old kindly agreed to let the young man stay with her after breaking up with her granddaughter. The couple split in 2020, with Moody claiming to the grandmother that he had nowhere to go .
Sally agreed to let the young man stay with her until he found somewhere else, with the arrangement between the two initially working well. Sally's son Nathan, 46, said: "It was just him and my mum here.
"I was working away at the time, so it was company for her and it did seem to work. We felt sorry for him and we were just being nice people, putting a roof over his head.
"That's what hurts all of us. There was no specific time he was due to leave.
"Once he got here and it was all going well, it wasn't a problem. He had the full run of the house. His friends would come over.
"My dad, who passed away in 2016, had a garden shed that Jarrod turned into a gym. He was being really looked after."
Moody was being well looked after by the grandmother, getting free meals and not paying any rent. However, despite this, he soon began to take advantage of the widow's kind nature.
Nathan added:" My mum would need daily essentials, so every day he [Moody] would go round the shop with her card. She had money in her account from insurance after there was storm damage to the house, so at first she didn't notice the money going out.
"I came back from working in Paris and I was going through the accounts asking, 'How have you spent that every day?'"
The 46-year-old says Moody was siphoning off typically £20-30 a day from his mother's card using cashback at the shops. The thief carried out his thefts for five months before the family realised what was happening to the missing cash.
Sally says she was left struggling to pay her bills due to the thief raiding her savings. She said: "I found it very hard to believe.
"We had got on very well. It really affected me badly because of my situation. I live in quite a large property and the bills are very high.
"My pension only just covers them. I don't have any savings at all now."
The experience has brought stress to Sally on top of her serious health problems. She added: "I have peripheral neuropathy which means I find it difficult to walk, and leukaemia which is being managed and monitored.
"He knew that when he did this." After being charged, Moody pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced for his crimes at Cardiff Magistrates' Court last week.
Prosecutor Rehman Hyett said the theft amounted to £3,500 and Moody had agreed to pay back £200 a month. He did so until October last year when the payments stopped.
The court heard he still owed £2,350 at that point. The family then reported the crime to police, who gave Moody a conditional caution in January, with the condition that he pay the remainder of the money within six months.
But the thief ignored the order and made no payments — which eventually landed him in court charged with theft.
His solicitor Neil Evans said there was a "question mark" over the £3,500 figure because it was not possible to be certain which transactions were for the defendant and which were for the victim. But he accepted his client had "taken advantage" of his position of trust.
Judge Harmes said Moody had breached the trust of a woman who had helped him. The judge said: "He used her in a way that day to day he probably thinks is not that bad but over time becomes more significant.
"You're here because you didn't pay. It's your own fault you're here.
"I'm trying to help you and help Sally Johnson. I think you're probably a decent lad.
"It's not a terrible offence but it's a mean offence, because it's someone who took you in."
The judge did not impose any costs other than the £2,350 in compensation because "the money should go to her as fast as it can". Moody must pay at a rate of £160 a month as well as complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity.
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