A man has been jailed for stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds in inheritance from his own relatives.
Mark Totton, 63, of Presdales Court in Ware, Hertfordshire, was acting as the executor of his mother's estate in 2023.
She left half of her £475,000 inheritance to Totton, with the other half to be split between her grandchildren Hollie Totton and Daniel Washer, who are siblings.
But the 63-year-old was reported to police for failing to distribute the assets as directed in the deceased's will.
It emerged in a subsequent investigation that Totton had stolen around £209,000 from the estate.
The siblings did not receive their share of the cash from their uncle, who also refused to explain what he had done with the money.
They then took him to the High Court in order to force him to hand the money over.
As well as being jailed for six weeks, Totton was also ordered to pay the legal bills of his niece and nephew, which amounted to £18,000.
FRAUDSTERS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE - READ MORE:
The siblings took Mark Totton to the High Court in order to force him to hand the money over
| PAAt the time, Mr Justice Leech said Totton had "deliberately failed to comply with his duties as executor".
On August 13, Totton was found guilty of fraud by abuse of position by a jury at St Albans Crown Court.
He has now been sentenced to five years in prison.
Totton had previously been jailed for six weeks in 2022 for contempt of court after he failed to comply with a judge's order to give a full account of his dealings with the estate within a certain timeframe.
The investigation was led by Detective Constable Sian Beames from Hertfordshire Constabulary's Serious Fraud and Cyber Unit
|PA
The most recent investigation was led by Detective Constable Sian Beames from Hertfordshire Constabulary's Serious Fraud and Cyber Unit.
She said: "This has been a long-running investigation, which began back in 2023 and required complex examination of the legal documents and will for the estate.
"Totton was placed in a position of trust and misused the money from the estate he had been entrusted to look after.
"The beneficiaries of the estate have been further subjected to a lengthy court case to achieve what was rightfully theirs."
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