Thai bride of tax advisor who stole £2m from old woman gambles it away
William Franklin, a tax advisor who stole more than £1.8million from an elderly woman, lost most of it when his Thai bride gambled it away in Bangkok.
Franklin, 61, was working as a tax advisor for Surrey solicitors Guillaumes and had power of attorney over the bank accounts of Kathleen Renson.
Over a five-year period - from March 2001 to January 2006 - Franklin illegally transferred £1,837,000 from Kathleen Renson's bank accounts into his own.
Franklin even continued to take money from Mrs Renson's account after her death, aged 80, at a nursing home in Lightwater in 2005.
He admitted 217 counts of theft by deception at Woking Magistrates' Court in July and was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on Friday.
At the sentencing, prosecutor Graham Smith, said: "Mr Franklin had power of attorney over Mrs Renson's estate with another partner at Guillaumes.
"The agreement between the defendant and the other controlling solicitor was that he [Franklin] would have control of the bank accounts and assets owned by Mrs Renson.
"The defendant had financial control of everything."
After Mrs Renson's death, Franklin made six transactions, all between January 18 and 24 2006.
The court heard Franklin, previously of Chilton Close, Eastbourne, transferred £9,950 from Mrs Renson's Nationwide account to his own on January 18 and then transferred a similar amount a minute later.
Later that day, he also transferred £8,400 from her bank account into his own.
Mrs Renson's bank account, holding savings of more than £3million, was based at the Walton-on-Thames branch in Surrey, where the court heard Franklin was a regular customer and known to the staff.
Following Mrs Renson's death and Franklin's continued unlawful bank transactions, he transferred £630,000 of the stolen cash to three bank accounts in Bangkok.
Defending Franklin, David Castle said: "Initially it didn't occur to him to take money from Mrs Renson's bank accounts and began his power of attorney duties diligently.
"He was often left alone to write cheques and given the ease with which he could write cheques and move money around he decided to feather his own nest."
In 2006, Franklin fled to Thailand where he met a Thai woman half his age, married her and fathered their child, who is now three years old.
Owing to Thai laws about foreigners' investments, Franklin transferred the stolen money into an account in his 32-year-old Thai wife's name.
Mr Castle told the court: "His Thai bride then embarked on a spending and gambling spree and spent the lot of the money in casinos in Bangkok."
According to Mr Castle, Franklin did not believe his actions would affect Mrs Renson as she was living in a nursing home and was having her bills paid.
It was only after her death that he began to realise that, because of his actions, Mrs Renson's relatives would not be able to benefit from inheriting her savings.
Franklin, wearing a blue shirt and yellow tie, sat impassively as his sentence was handed down.
Judge Christopher Critchlow said: "You committed thoroughly mean offences over a period of five years.
"This was a considerable breach of trust and it harms anyone who was associated with you in a professional capacity.
"Because of the gravity of these offences, a very substantial term of imprisonment must follow."
After the hearing on Friday afternoon, Robert Guilfoyle, a senior partner at Guillaumes Solicitors, in Weybridge, Surrey, declined to comment.
