Boyfriend stole £25k from widow whose husband died of cancer

Gold-digging boyfriend, 30, is jailed for a year for stealing nearly £25,000 from bank of girlfriend whose husband died of cancer – leaving her with just £23 of his life insurance payout left

• Andrew Baldry, 30, romanced woman three years after husband died of cancer 
• Mother-of-two, who cannot be named, had £25k from insurance to run her home
• Baldry spent two years draining her account telling her he had a scratchcard win
• Victim became suspicious when he bought a car and found just £23 was left 

A gold-digging boyfriend has been jailed for a year after ‘draining’ more than £24,000 from his widowed girlfriend’s life savings.

Andrew Baldry, 30, began a romance with the grieving woman three years after her husband died of cancer and left her with just £23 to her name, Swansea Crown Court heard. 

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a savings account with money from her late husband’s life insurance policy to provide for her two children.

But unemployed Baldry began to help himself to the cash without her knowledge and claimed he had a lottery scratchcard win when he started a spending spree.

Sending him to prison for 12 months Judge Geraint Walters admitted there was no prospect of ‘tremendously mean’ Baldry repaying any of the money he stole.

Andrew Baldry, 30, has been jailed for taking his widow girlfriend’s life savings. Magistrates ruled she shouldn’t be named so she has been muzzed

He said: ‘You drained the account, leaving just £23 by the time she detected it. It was a tremendously mean piece of behaviour. Her children have been deprived of the benefit of the money’. 

Baldry started splashing the cash – but insisted the money was from a scratchcard win not his girlfriend’s pocket

Baldry’s victim became suspicious when he bought himself a car and began to spend money despite being without a job.

When she quizzed him on his new found income he told her he had won £1,000 on a scratchcard.

Swansea Crown Court heard the woman later checked her savings account when she tried to buy some food and found there was only £23 left to spend.

Prosecutor Gareth Waite said £24,668.53 had been transferred to Baldry’s account over two years.

Baldry of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, admitted fraud by false representation.

In a victim statement, the woman who cannot be named said: ‘I can never explain how devastated I am.’

Judge Walters told Baldry he had shown ‘no remorse’ and jailed him for 12 months.

He said: ‘There was almost £25,000 in the account that would have provided her with some reassurance as to the future. 

‘You saw the opportunity and you took advantage of her vulnerability, I have not a shadow of a doubt. She had money – you did not. It is hard to conceive of circumstances more mean.’

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