Drug addict granddaughter jailed after conning kind-hearted grandad out of life savings

A kind-hearted grandad has been left broke after being conned out of his life savings by his drug addict granddaughter.

Olivia Crutchley described the victim as “her best friend” but stole almost £75,000 from him over just 18 months.
She invented a fictional legal battle with B&Q and lawyers to get her hands on his money but it has now landed her with a two-year jail sentence.

A judge told the 23-year-old that it is was “an unpleasant, mean and destructive offence. It is a terrible offence.”
Recorder Graham Wells said, “You have destroyed your relationship, but you also destroyed the peace and quietness of his retirement. It was over a period of years, taking him for all he had and then some.”
Crutchley, of Windermere Avenue, Orford, pleaded guilty to fraud between December 4, 2020 and June 23 last year.

Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that she is the eldest granddaughter of 79-year-old Roy Crutchley and that they had a “strong bond” after she had spent periods living with him growing up.
At one stage she moved to Malta but then returned home to Warrington and told her granddad that she had begun working for B&Q and was promoted to the position of assistant manager.
She claimed that she had been left out of pocket because of extra training as part of this new role which was not paid for by the company. She said this included travel and accommodation expenses for training sessions in locations including Birmingham and London.
Crutchley send him fake emails from her “supervisor” to back up her story and he agreed to pay her £1,000 towards the expenses.
She later told him that she had stopped working for B&Q and had been in contact with the Citizens Advice Bureau over potential court proceedings.
Crutchley backed up her tales with fake emails involving demands for money from the CAB and lawyers but eventually, her grandad became suspicious after an “unprofessional” message in which a lawyer he had never met told him his daughter had died of cancer.

He also “found it strange” that the email address was from an AOL account rather than having a professional company address.
Mr Blasbery said that over the course of the scam Mr Crutchley lost a total of £74,968.86. His life savings were wiped out, he took out two bank loans, borrowed cash, sold his car and possessions and his credit cards were taken to the limit.
The defendant was arrested in October last year and fully admitted the offence.

In an impact statement the victim stated, “I did this to help my eldest granddaughter. She has been through so much in her life, I just wanted something to go well for her.
“I thought I was helping her. I just wanted the best for her.”
He said, “This has turned my life upside down. I have no money to pay for mine or my wife’s funerals.”
He said he worried that they would have to sell their home and would end up homeless, adding: “We have worked so hard our whole lives, this is the time to enjoy ourselves.
“I am so ashamed that we have had to ask friends to borrow money.”

Defence barrister, Rosemary Proctor, said, ”Ms Crutchley has destroyed her relationship with the man she describes as her best friend growing up. She will have to live with that.
“She was addicted to opiates. She was desperate at the time of the offence.
“She wasn’t thinking about the consequences of her actions, only her addiction. Her addiction was her world at that time. As her addiction spiralled, so did her deception.”
Miss Proctor said that Crutchley herself said ‘I can’t believe how selfish I was, I was in a place where I would have done anything to get my hands on them – I sold my TV, I sold everything in my flat.”
The lawyer told the court that Crutchley’s addiction began after taking Tramadol following a workplace accident.
“She understands her addiction is not an excuse, but it is a reason. There is no suggestion that she would have committed this offence had it not been for her addiction.”
She said that her arrest had been a “ real wake up call” and she has sought out help for her addiction.
“She wants to get to the point where she can work and pay her grandfather back. She has a lot of time to change.”
Miss Proctor said that Crutchley, who has no previous convictions, was unlikely to reappear in court.

Liverpool Crown Court and Olivia Crutchley (inset)