A man from Newcastle in the UK stole the funeral savings of his 86-year-old grandmother to fund his gambling addiction.

Matthew Temple took her bank card and withdrew a total of ￡1,500 ($1,908) to place his bets. The Newcastle Crown Court recently heard how the grandmother felt betrayed by these actions. He received a six-month suspended prison sentence and a restraining order.

The man’s cousin uncovered the theft in October 2021 and confronted Temple, who became defensive and suggested that someone could have cloned the card details.

Temple confessed to taking the money after his family threatened to go to the police

After further investigation, it turned out the card was unclonable and the woman couldn’t have made the withdrawals. Temple confessed to taking the money after his family threatened to go to the police. The 34-year-old claimed he was going to get a ￡1,000 ($1,272) inheritance, so he would only pay back ￡500 ($636).

The matter eventually went to court, with his grandmother describing her anguish: “It made me feel extremely vulnerable and severely distressed, emotionally and I’ve started taking anti-depressants.” She confirmed that she had put that cash aside to save for the cost of her funeral.