Newspaper, magazine, TV and radio coverage of abuse by LPA attorneys
Newspapers
24 December 2024, in i paper: When people you trust steal your savings? Relatives of alleged victims of lasting power of attorney abuse are calling for banks and the Office of the Public Guardian to step up safeguards.
12 November 2024, in The Independent: MPs hear call to end ‘alarming’ abuse of elderly through powers of attorney. An MP said the Office of the Public Guardian is not going far enough to protect older people at risk of having their estates stolen.
25 July 2024, in The Standard: Former BBC presenter jailed for embezzling £120,000 of mother’s funds. A former STV and BBC presenter has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison for embezzling more than £120,000 from her mother who suffered from dementia.
14 March 2024, in Daily Mail: Pensioner ‘evicted her 94-year-old stepfather from his £475k home and stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from him by abusing her power of attorney – before spending his money on Amazon Prime and holidays‘ Coverage of criminal court case.
13 January 2024, in Daily Mail: ‘My dad was stolen from me‘: Carolyn spent four frantic years searching for her dementia-stricken father after his new partner cut him off from his family and he was put in a care home without her knowing – and it was all perfectly legal.
26 December 2021, in The Observer: Fraudsters are using power-of-attorney rules to steal people’s homes. Lawyers warn that a scammer could use falsified names and addresses to get legal document entitling them to take over the affairs of an another.
5 October 2019, in The Times: Rise in power of attorney being abused. A rise in the number of people taking up attorney’s role is leading to the abuse of the system.
BBC
18 March 2025: Brothers conned into signing over farm to church minister. Three elderly brothers who were conned out of their family farm by a church minister and a local businessman were not in the right state of mind to sign anything.
9 December 2024: Bank accounts locked and cash withdrawn after elderly gave power to law firm partner. Elderly and vulnerable people in south-east England have told the BBC how they lost control of their money and property after dealing with a law firm based in Essex.
5 December 2024: The Willpower Detectives. The hidden scandal of Power of Attorney – how one man controls the finances of scores of vulnerable people. [7 episodes podcast series, ~30mins per episode]
28 December 2023: ‘My elderly father found a new partner – then vanished from my life’. When her elderly father Vincent found a new partner, Carolyn Stephens was stopped from seeing him, and then left helpless as he vanished from her life.
Vincent Stephen’s story is also on Radio 4, 31 December 2023: Finding My Father [30 mins]
1 August 2024: Man jailed for stealing £600k from aunt before she died. David Eggleton, 71, of Calne in Wiltshire, squandered his auntie’s £600,000 savings on holidays, cars and Bitcoin while he had power of attorney, and has been sentenced to five years and six months in prison.
15 August 2017: ‘Power of attorney meant Dad lost everything’. Suffering from dementia and in his early 80s, Frank Willett, a Dunkirk and Normandy veteran, was exploited by his neighbour Colin Blake.
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