Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To actually feel sorry for Louise Gray?

59 replies

lbsjob87 · 20/01/2015 21:59

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.

OP posts:
Simile · 21/01/2015 11:01

Nope no sympathy for her. She blew her £250k then spent her own child's money. He trusted her and she screwed him over, then claimed she had a tumour to blackmail him.

I hope Adam gets his money back in full, he must have gone through hell when he found out what she did. Shame on her.

Micah · 21/01/2015 11:03

What I don't get is why he just gave it all to her to "look after" He was 18, could have banked it, invested, bought a property. I know it's his mother, but still. Especially if she had a history of being unreliable with money. The sister presumably didn't hand hers over.

Fudgeface123 · 21/01/2015 11:05

and she's only remorseful because she was caught. Bitch

BoomBoomsCousin · 21/01/2015 11:25

I do think it's particularly sad for children to lose their parents to prison while they are young. And if a reasonable way can be found to have the parent serve a sentence while still being able to look after their children I think that's worth pursuing. But this was pretty bad and community sentences are quite limited, so would be hard pressed to reflect the severity of the crime. Also, I'm not sure a mother who would steal from her children in this manner should have care of them in any case.

OTheHugeManatee · 21/01/2015 11:41

Nope. Don't feel sorry for her at all.

She should have thought about her baby before stealing money from her son.

Micah · 21/01/2015 12:00

If I gave my mother £50k cash to "look after" I'm fairly sure she'd spend it. Even if she meant the best for me- I used it to do up the kitchen/your bedroom/take us on holiday/ you'll get it back when I sell the house I bought. Unless you're handing it over for someone to put into a specific bank account then it's always a risk, no matter how close you are.

Willing to bet it's happened in millions of cases where a child has been awarded money and the parents have spent it. Just this one is high profile. Child stars, for example.

toomanyeggs · 21/01/2015 12:01

Micah He probably trusted her.

When I was younger I was persuaded by my mum to get a policy that would pay out after x yrs.

I gave her the cash each month (from very low part time wages, then later from full time wages) & she wrote a cheque each month to the company (because she also had a policy, she sent the two payments in one cheque). Because I was a minor, she had to be named as the policy holder, but the policy was in my name.

At 18, the company sent papers for us to sign, to get it all put under my name, thus removing her. We singed it and she said she would send it with the next cheque.

I cancelled it out early to pay for something a few years later. They sent the cheque in her name & she banked it into her account.

After a while, when the cheque "hadn't arrived" (I had moved out, but some post was still going to my home address) I called the company who said they sent it to my old address, so I asked her about it. She admitted to banking it & spending it, as payback for "all I spent on you over the years" There was a few grand there, and I never saw a penny of it.

The policy company never got the form from her, (I rang them & spoke to them at length) and I couldn't prove I had given her the cash previously, so they said that legally, they had done nothing wrong, and there was nothing I could do.

And therefore spelt the end of our relationship. You just do not ever imagine that a parent would steal from you, ever! I trusted her & loved her.

GahBuggerit · 21/01/2015 12:19

Do I feel sorry for the person who spent a quarter of a million pounds, and then stole a further £43k?

erm....no. She deserves all she gets.

inlawsareasses · 21/01/2015 12:30

She's disgraceful! I'm assuming that her husband had a life insurance policy as well so the 293 k may just be the tip of the iceberg

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread