Prison appeal by thief is rejected

AN Oldham man who forged the will of a pensioner and cheated him of more than £7,000 has been told that he deserved every day of his jail term.

The Appeal Court in London heard Dean Raymond Benson (44) stole from 81-year-old Reginald Dockery after gaining his trust by helping him.

Benson, who now lives in Thistle Way, Royton, but lived in Great Clifton, near Workington, Cumbria, when he committed his crimes, was jailed for a year in January this year after he admitted two charges of theft and one of forgery.

At yesterday’s appeal against his sentence, his lawyers argued it was over the top. But the court dismissed the appeal, saying the jail term was “beyond criticism”.

Judge Andrew Gilbart QC, sitting with Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Treacy, said Benson first met his victim — a close friend of his wife’s family — in 2002.

Benson would often take Mr Dockery, from West Cumbria, shopping, help him by running errands and once took him to visit relatives in Manchester.

In early 2005, Mr Dockery handed over some money after Benson told him he had a safe and could look after it for him. It was then decided the money would be put into a bank account belonging to Benson’s daughter, but he transferred it soon after to pay of his debts.

The pensioner later gave Benson a further £1,500, but had asked for some of the money back on a few occasions so could not remember exactly how much had been stolen in total.

Benson admitted he had stolen £5,000. He also admitted a further theft of £2,287, which he received by using documents to cash in a life insurance policy of Mr Dockery’s — after the pensioner asked him whether it was value for money.

His most serious crime was forging Mr Dockery’s will, naming himself and his unwitting family members as beneficiaries.

The court heard Benson had previous convictions for benefit fraud, in 2006, and failing to keep proper accounting records, in 2007.

A probation officer recommended he should receive a community order, but the Crown Court judge said he had to serve time behind bars for the “persistent” crimes, which were aggravated by the age of his victim and the breach of trust involved.

Lawyers acting for Benson at his appeal argued his jail term was too long, saying the judge failed to take enough account of his guilty plea and the modest scale of the thefts.

But, dismissing the appeal, Judge Gilbart said the Crown Court judge’s approach to sentence was “beyond criticism”.

He said: “In our view, this was a very serious breach of a high degree of trust. We consider that ...it was inevitable he Benson would receive a custodial sentence.”