Overview

• Preston Crown Court sentenced Danielle Houghton to two years and nine months following a guilty plea to theft and fraud by false representation.
• Cash withdrawals totalled £7,700 with an additional attempted £800 that failed, bringing losses close to £10,000 once card purchases were included.
• Houghton spent the money on tanning shops, gambling sites, Amazon, Netflix, Sports Direct and KFC, as well as groceries, fuel, cigarettes and alcohol.
• The offending began at the end of November 2023 and came to light when the victim’s children noticed suspicious transactions and contacted police.
• The 91-year-old woman with dementia and her 92-year-old bed-bound husband died during the investigation, as police condemned the exploitation and welcomed the deterrent sentence.