A 51-YEAR-OLD man has been warned he faces prison after he admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds from his elderly mother.
Michael Augustus Rollo Pain, of Eddlethorpe, Malton, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft, two of obtaining a money transfer by deception and five of fraud, all occurring between April 2005 and June 2009.
York Crown Court was told Lady Denys Sop
hia Pain of Eddlethorpe, Malton, had entrusted to her son to look after her financial affairs, only to discover that over four years he had obtained £460,000 from her accounts.
He used his mother's bank accounts with both the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and the Halifax Plc in order to get at the money.
Tina Dempster, prosecuting, told the court that, despite civil proceedings being instigated, the possibility of a Proceeds of Crime investigation was also being explored.
Judge John Swanson told Pain he now faced an "almost inevitable" jail term.
David Bradshaw, mitigating, told the court that there were to be further investigations to see if at least some of the money had been used for the benefit of Lady Pain, of Grange Farm.
The hearing was adjourned until March 5 for those inquiries to be made and also to allow time for the preparation of a pre-sentence report on Pain by the probation service.
Pain, who was remanded on unconditional bail until the sentencing hearing, was told by Judge John Swanson: "You must realise the consequences of your guilty pleas and that it is almost inevitable that a prison sentence will follow."
