Allan Beacham, 66, of Wootton, Kent, has been sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison for stealing £75,000 from Alan Pattillo, a film-writer he was caring for in Salisbury.
Beacham was sentenced on Friday (21/06) at Winchester Crown Court after pleading guilty at a previous hearing.
In May 2016, Beacham began working for a care company and was assigned to care for Mr. Pattillo, who was registered blind, in a wheelchair, and had Parkinson’s disease. Initially caring for Mr. Pattillo in Scotland, Beacham continued his role when Mr. Pattillo moved to Salisbury in 2017.
Mr. Pattillo’s solicitors appointed a paralegal to manage his overall finances, while Beacham handled his day-to-day finances and care needs. Beacham would liaise with the paralegal to transfer funds into Mr. Pattillo’s current account.
In the spring of 2019, when a solicitor took over the management of Mr. Pattillo’s finances, concerns were raised about large amounts of cash being withdrawn from his bank account. This led to a report being made to Wiltshire Police.
The investigation was lengthy due to the numerous lines of enquiry, which included witness statements from as far as Australia and the Outer Hebrides, as well as scrutiny of banking information and files held by the solicitors.
It was established that Beacham requested money from Mr. Pattillo’s attorney for goods and services meant for the benefit of his patient. However, upon receiving the funds, Beacham would withdraw the cash for his own use, primarily to feed his addiction to the National Lottery.
Tragically, Mr. Pattillo passed away during the investigation. Despite this, it was deemed in the public interest to continue the investigation, leading to Beacham being charged with theft of approximately £75,000 from October 2017 to May 2019.
DC Nick Bishop, now of the Regional Organised Crime Unit, stated: “Mr. Beacham has been sentenced today, and despite his continued efforts to frustrate and delay justice, he has received a custodial sentence of three years and 10 months. His crime was against a very elderly and vulnerable man, who he was employed to care for and who totally depended on him. Instead, Mr. Beacham utterly abused this trust and position by stealing a vast amount of money for his own satisfaction and addiction.
Wiltshire Police would like to thank everyone involved in their collaborative work, including the Crown Prosecution Service and prosecution counsel Mr. Evans, to finally bring justice to the victim’s family.
