Karen Moore of Cumnock, Ayrshire walked into a police station and admitted stealing money from her elderly uncle’s bank account to fund her Online Bingo addiction.
The deception happened after her uncle Francisco moved into a nursing home and Karen was given access to his bank account.
When she walked into the police station to confess, Karen was nearly nine month pregnant at the time and thought she had taken around £30,000 from her uncle’s account, but it was later revealed that the figure was staggeringly higher and she had embezzled a total of £119,678.44.
In just one night alone Karen gambled £10,400 playing online bingo, the Ayr Sheriff Court heard. When police visited the nursing home they discovered payments to the home for her Francisco’s care were more than £10,000 in arrears and her great uncle had no idea the theft had taken place.
At the time he was quoted as saying, ““I don’t take anything to do with my savings. My family takes care of them. Karen is like a daughter to me. I’m very shocked to find out about this.”
Francisco died aged 84; just three months before the case come to trial. The Ayr Sheriff court heard that he did not want his niece charged for this offence. Karen was not allowed to be in contact with her uncle before the case was tried, so she was not able to be with Francisco when he passed away, which Karen said, she will regret for the rest of her life.
In a comment published on the Daily Record, Karen said, “I didn’t realise how much money I had spent until it got out of control. As soon as I realised, I went straight to the police and told them everything. I don’t want people to think I am some lowlife who stole from an old man. It wasn’t like that. There is much more to it than that. I didn’t mean for it to happen and I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I’m not proud of what I did. My great-uncle was more upset I hadn’t told him I was having problems than he was about the money. I did my best to pay back as much as I could. We are a close family and they are standing by me. I don’t know what I would do without them.”
It does seem like Karen’s online bingo habit got out of control and took over her life. She did try to re-pay the money to her uncle, she gave him back £17,226, plus all her winnings from gambling which amounted to a further £52,250. However, this still left a shortfall of more than £50k.
Karen has pleaded guilty for embezzlement and her case has been deferred for sentencing this month. Some of the Beneficiaries of Francisco’s will, who Mr Logan (Karen’s defending barrister) has managed to contact have stated they do not want any money back.
It is always sad to read about a case like this – Bingo has long been considered to be a softer form of gambling than other products available in the marketplace and most enjoy having a flutter without any problems, but as with all gaming there will always be a percent who get into trouble.
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