Woman jailed after stealing £120,000 from mother with dementia

A woman who embezzled more than £100,000 from her dementia-stricken mother and used the money to fund an “extravagant lifestyle” has been jailed.

Hayley Matthews, 44, from Edinburgh, stole £120,000 from her mother’s bank accounts between September 2019 and November 2022 and used it for lavish spending sprees.

Her illicit scheme was only exposed when other family members questioned the size of Ms Matthews’s estate after she died in a hospital care facility in Edinburgh in 2021.

Matthews pleaded guilty to one charge of embezzlement at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on June 27.

On Thursday, she was sentenced at the same court to two years and three months in prison.

Lynne Barrie, procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said: “Hayley Matthews was placed in a position of family trust to oversee her mother’s financial affairs.

“But she abused that responsibility by stealing thousands of pounds and used that money to brazenly fund an extravagant lifestyle.

During the trial, the court heard Matthews, who had power of attorney for her mother’s financial affairs, had told family members her mother’s estate was valued at £36,000.

However the valuation was queried by her sister, who applied to the bank for copies of her mother’s financial statements.

These showed ATM cash withdrawals had substantially increased between September 2019 and September 2021, after Janice Matthews was admitted to hospital.

A subsequent police investigation, the court heard, found Hayley Matthews’s spending included 371 PayPal transactions totalling £42,763, ATM withdrawals amounting to £38,000, Amazon purchases worth £13,649.97, a Mulberry handbag costing £1,371, and £5,544.82 of purchases from the White Company.

The bank statements also showed spending at luxury retailers Harvey Nichols, Kurt Geiger and Molton Brown.

When Matthews’s father Alistair contacted her for an explanation in January 2022, she admitted spending large sums for her own financial gain.

During several text exchanges, she wrote: “You’re right, I’ve been shocking at handling mum’s money and paperwork.

“I’ve spent what I shouldn’t and used money I shouldn’t. I wasn’t in a very good place when looking after her, but I tried my best.”