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Woman who stole £24,000 from her grandmother blamed the 91-year-old being a 'big eater'

Amanda Farr, 47, defrauded her gran Joyce Hutchings by siphoning her cash into her own account.

Amanda Farr, 47, who defrauded her own grandmother Joyce Hutchings, 91, out of £24,069. (swns)
Amanda Farr, 47, defrauded her grandmother Joyce Hutchings, 91, out of £24,069. (SWNS)

A woman who stole more than £24,000 from her grandmother attributed the missing money to the 91-year-old being a "big eater".

Amanda Farr, 47, defrauded Joyce Hutchings by siphoning her cash into her own account and then spending it on takeaways, games, bets and a holiday to Amsterdam.

Farr claimed the 130 transactions between December 2017 and September 2019 were consensual and designed to benefit the whole family.

But she was unanimously convicted by jurors of defrauding Hutchings out of £24,069 at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday.

When trying to explain in court where the unaccounted money had gone, Farr claimed her grandmother was a "big eater" of oriental cuisine.

She claimed Hutchings could spend up to £20 a week on sugary treats, £180 sending her pet to "dog school" and would pay £35 a time to have the animal walked.

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Legal and law concept statue of Lady Justice with scales of justice and sky background
Amanda Farr was unanimously convicted by jurors. (Getty)

Far lived with her grandmother at the same address in Whistable, Kent, alongside her mother and her own daughter and partner, the court heard.

She told jurors the family pitched money into "one pot", while she was tasked with managing the cash.

But the former finance worker said she was ill-equipped to manage the outgoings, with their home "haemorrhaging money" due to repairs and decorating works.

She told the court her mother spent large sums of the joint kitty online for high-end items, while her partner made numerous video game purchases that were agreed by the victim.

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Prosecutor Kieran Brand claimed Farr used a criminal technique dubbed "layering" in an attempt to hide the money.

After skimming Hutchings' account via online banking, she would rapidly transfer various amounts between her own current and savings account to blur the lines between legally and criminally held cash, Brand said.

The court heard how Farr even intercepted her grandmother's post and hid it under her bed.

Brand also accused Farr of "strong-arming" her daughter into providing a false statement to the courts, in a bid to pervert the course of justice. But jurors unanimously cleared her of that charge on Friday.

Farr, who now lives in New Addington, Croydon, will be sentenced on 12 March pending probation reports.