To actually feel sorry for Louise Gray?

[lbsjob87]

This is the lady I mean:
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/19/7-july-2005-widow-louise-gray-jailed-stealing-sons-compensation

This story just makes me really sad, yes, she stole the money, and obviously that was wrong, but it seems to me that she could have been given a suspended sentence or something.

Now, her 3 year old is growing up without her, which seems unfair, as it says she realised she was wrong and tried to pay it back but was refused.

It just seems so tragic that the family has been ripped apart twice, the first time by violence, the second by greed/naïveté/stupity/anger.

Or maybe she deserves all she gets, I dunno, I might be going soft in my old age.

[KnackeredMerrily]

What 3yo?

She gets no sympathy from me

[HaveYouHeardOfGoogle]

Find it very hard to feel sorry for her.

[lbsjob87]

She has a 3 year old daughter with her new partner, according to some of the reports (maybe not this one.....)

[TookALittleLongWayRound]

I have to admit my sympathy is with her Son in this matter. What a terrible blow to be dealt. He trusted her and she stole from him and completely shattered his trust in her.

I obviously have sympathy for what she went through losing a husband but it doesn't excuse her actions in any way shape or form.

[Suefla62]

She was offering to pay 1/4 of it back. If she could afford to pay it back she didn't need to take it in the first place, sheer greed.

She wasn't thinking of her 3 year old when she was stealing. Disgusting, she should have got twice as long.

[FightOrFlight]

lbsjob87

It does say in this report

"Gray was supported in court by her partner, Umar Shamshoom, who is the father of her three-year-old daughter. Adam was not in court for his mother’s sentencing."

I think she was awful to do this - she'd already received £250,000 compensation.

[AlpacaPicnic]

How much of a scumbag do you have to be to steal from your own child compensation money for his parent being murdered?

All of my sympathy lies with her son, and with her daughter too. It's not either of their faults that their mother decided to be a thief.

[CaptainAnkles]

I feel very sorry for her loss. But you can't blaze through your own compensation, get used to having lots of money and then start spending somebody else's, if that's what has happened here.

[lbsjob87]

Fair enough. I'm wondering if I do feel sorry for her, or just sad for the family in general.
I am in no way condoning her actions, BTW.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

I don't feel sorry for her but I am surprised by the sentence. An ex friend of mine stole 3times that and only received a suspended sentence

[DamnBamboo]

My sympathies lie with Adam!
Vile, despicable creature she is.

[Samcro]

she did the crime, now she has to do the time.
she should have thought of her child(her son) before she stole his money.

[TheWitTank]

No sympathy here at all. She stole from her own child. A child who has, like her, suffered a terrible loss. She spent her compensation. If she had taken the money because she was penniless and had to feed and clothe him growing up I could perhaps understand, but not when she has frittered his future security away on fuck all. Poor kid.

[FightOrFlight]

An ex friend of mine stole 3times that and only received a suspended sentence

Did she steal it from her bereaved son after receiving quarter of a millions pounds though?

[Cat2014]

I feel a bit sorry for her, not knowing the circs obviously, but thinking she must have been desperate.

[amothersplaceisinthewrong]

What she did was dreadful. To steal off your own Son? What happened to her £250K?? SOunds like she got greedy.

[CadleCrap]

If I have read this correctly, she has spent 293k in less than 9 years.

That works out as a tax free salary of 32k. An income of 2700 per month.

I don't feel sorry for her. Her poor son.

[FightOrFlight]

Cat2014 She didn't borrow her son's pocket money/Birthday fund in order to put money in the leccy meter. She knowingly stole £49,000 of the money he was given to compensate him for the loss of his father and had entrusted to her for safekeeping.

Adam has not only lost his father in a terrorist attack he has now been betrayed and scammed by his own mother. I don't care how fucking 'desperate' she was, that is unforgivable.

[FightOrFlight]

Sorry, mistake - it was 'only' £43,000 of her child's compensation

[BigPawsBrown]

If a county court judge ordered her to pay the debt she went all the way to trial on the civil matter, which indicates she might be a bit horrible usually as a lawyer you'd advise her to make an agreement to pay it all back not take everyone to court to have a judge order the same thing. That aside, I do feel sorry for her. She's obviously got issues following her husband's death, and I don't really think should be imprisoned for those actions. Get therapy, ADs or whatever, not jail. She's lost the son already really

[GoringBit]

Agree with CradleCrap; this wasn't a spur of the moment, desperate act, it was deception and systematic theft of almost all of Adam's compensation. I can appreciate that it's a horrible situation for all of them, but she has brought it all on herself by betraying her son so cruelly.

[betweenmarchandmay]

£2700 a month in London isn't a huge amount in fairness.

That said it is obviously a horrible thing to do, and the whole story is quite difficult to comprehend.

I suspect she got used to the 'what's yours is mine' outlook.

[OddFodd]

What's how much it costs to live in London got to do with anything? She doesn't live in London!

I think he must feel terribly betrayed. What an awful thing to do to your own child. I have no sympathy

[serin]

Sickening.

Poor Adam.

[betweenmarchandmay]

Sorry - thought she did.

It's still not mega bucks. Doesn't excuse it but in the context of a lifetimes earnings, £250000 isn't a fortune. It's a lot of money but still easily spent.