'I used to trust my daughter': Mother's pain as daughter is jailed for stealing her late husband's £60,000 pension payout

A daughter has been jailed after stealing £60,000 from her widowed mother - leaving her with 89p in the bank, and then trying to frame her brother for the crime.


Claire Lyon, 29, would use her mother's card and PIN number to take out spending money for her.

But what mother Patricia Lyon, 63, did not know was that her daughter was also helping herself to £60,000 of her late father's pension payout, faking bank statements and even trying to frame her brother to cover her tracks.

Ms Lyons, 63, from East Hull, had no experience with banks when her husband died suddenly in September 2009 and asked her daughter Claire for help.






Hanging head in shame: Claire Lyon (left), 29, was jailed for 18months after pleading guilty to stealing £60,000 of her late father's pension from her mother, Patricia Lyon, 63, (right) from East Hull


The pensioner only discovered the deception after trying to withdraw spending money for her first holiday abroad in decades - and realising there was less than a pound left.


Ms Lyons said 'I used to trust my daughter.

'She came round every day with her kids and brought them round for breakfast.




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'The effects of what my daughter has done are more devastating than I possibly imagined. To put it bluntly, Claire financially ruined me.'

The thefts began one month after after Ms Lyon's husband Robert died at home following a car accident.

He had always looked after the couple's finances and after his death Ms Lyons trusted her daughter to help.

'My daughter came to see me every day and she knew I didn't like banking,' Ms Lyons said.

'She took me with her sometimes to withdraw money but she left me in the car while she went to the bank.'

Claire Lyons falsified bank statements to keep her mother in the dark and as things got worse she told her it was impossible to get money out because of problems with the cash machine.


'The effects of what my daughter has done are more devastating than I possibly imagined. To put it bluntly, Claire financially ruined me,' said Ms Lyon


Patricia said: 'She was being so sly. My statements were altered with Tipp-Ex.

'Every statement I got said I had £80,000 left but I didn't connect it because I didn't spend much money.'

To prevent her mum becoming suspicious, Claire phoned her pretending to be a bank worker called Becky Day.

She tried the same trick again as Patricia's worries grew and called up claiming to work for the fraud squad.

This time, pretending to be a woman called Yvonne, Claire said police were investigating Patricia's son Andrew over the theft.

Patricia said: 'She told me the police had been down to his house and I believed it.

'I was getting phone calls from the fraud squad and all sorts but it was all her.'

The lies unravelled when Ms Lyons tried to withdraw spending money for a holiday in Spain with her twin sister Anne.

It was to be her first holiday abroad since before she was married and the only break since a wedding trip to Dorset with her husband.

Patricia called her bank and found out the money was gone and her daughter was arrested in January 2012.


Claire Lyons, from East Hull, was sentenced at Hull Crown Court to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to theft.

Passing the sentence on Monday, recorder Julian Smith said he was taking into account letters of reference, Claire's previous good character and her young children.

A report by the Probation Service said she was remorseful and had offered to pay her mum back.

But the judge told her: 'Your mother condemns herself for her naivety in allowing you free access.

'She's harsh on herself, because many would say she's entitled to the trust of her daughter.

'It's naive in the extreme to believe you will be able to repay the £60,000 you've taken. That money is lost.'

Recorder Smith also ordered confiscation hearings to begin to see if any of the money could be reclaimed.