ByMike Lockley
Gambling addict mum blew disabled daughter's £124,000 care cash on bingo
Julie Smith admitted stealing the money which was meant to pay for 24-year-old Hayley's day centre trips and specialist equipment
A mum handed £124,000 to look after her disabled daughter blew the cash on internet bingo.
Julie Smith was given the enormous sum of taxpayers’ money to look after her child Hayley, who has cerebral palsy and cannot walk or talk.
But a judge said she frittered it away on online gambling sites and in other “ludicrous ways”.
Smith, 46, of Farnborough Road, Castle Vale, admitted the theft of a total of £124,536 over a period of almost six years. She later told the Mail: “I am a gambling addict. Caring for Hayley is full-on and I needed an escape. You want to switch off.
“But I’m not a bad parent. I love Hayley, she is my world. She’s never gone without.”
Birmingham Crown Court heard Smith began receiving regular payments from the city council in 2006.
The cash was meant to cover day centre and specialist equipment costs for Hayley, 24.
But Smith admitted spending it on new clothes and weekends away, as well as her gambling addiction.
She was finally rumbled when the council changed its policies and staff realised the money had not been accounted for.
“They wanted receipts and I didn’t have them,” Smith said.
“I don’t think Hayley knows what has gone on. I haven’t much of a family– about half don’t know about it.”
Smith was handed a two-year community order and told to carry out 80 hours’ unpaid work.
Judge Patrick Thomas QC told the single parent: “The figures here are enormous.
“The plain position is that you received money intended for the benefit of your daughter.
“You spent it in ludicrous ways, sometimes on internet gambling and also on luxuries you appreciated far more than your daughter did, as if the money was part of your own state benefit.
“You plainly knew what you were doing.”
Smith, who also has a 17-year-old son with ADHD, will receive help with her gambling problems as part of the court order.
But she stressed: “The money didn’t just go on me, it went on the whole family.
“It didn’t go on holidays or luxuries like that. I smoke 20 to 30-a-day and I hardly drink or go out.
“But I admit I did wrong and I want to say sorry to social services for that. The money was there and I got into a habit.”
And Smith warned of the perils of online gambling, saying: “It’s too easy to get sucked in.”
The court heard she had complained of a lack of supervision for Hayley.
“It certainly seems to be true that you were left to your own devices,” added the judge. “The principle concern of the court must be for your daughter.”
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/birmingham-mum-julie-smith-blew-4050509
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment