Police drop fraud investigation in family dispute

Case study summary

Our client was a self-employed professional. A dutiful daughter, she helped manage her mother's finances. She was falsely accused of stealing by her estranged sister and police became involved. We prepared a detailed response with our client which resulted in no further action.

Case study

Our client was a self-employed professional. She led a blameless hardworking life and had never received so much as a parking ticket. As a dutiful daughter, she helped to manage her elderly mother's affairs, often traveling hundreds of miles per week in order to do so. This included helping with her mother's finances.

Sadly her mother's mental capacity began to worsen. It was in this context that her sister, who she had not spoken to for many years following a fallout, made allegations that our client had stolen approximately £30,000 from her mother. Solicitors had become involved and the sister had demanded repayment of the alleged stolen monies. When this approach had failed, the sister involved the police who then got in touch with our client to request an interview under caution to discuss the allegation. It was at this stage that our client, in a state of panic, had contacted this firm.

We immediately contacted the investigating officer to better understand the basis for the police becoming involved. The officer wanted to hold an interview under caution straight away but we pointed out that our client would be better able to assist if a full schedule of the alleged stolen monies were provided in advance. The officer agreed.

We then worked closely with our client to analyse the schedule provided. It covered various payments over a number of years. Our client was able to provide a comprehensive explanation and justification for the vast majority of the payments. Companies and service providers were contacted to obtain relevant receipts which had not been retained. A detailed prepared statement, along with various appendices, were provided to the police. Aside from justifying the payments, it highlighted the difficult history between our client and her sister and identified the sister's motivations for making false allegations.

It was suggested to the police that our client's detailed response, and the various proofs we were able to provide, completely undermined the sister's credibility. The police agreed. The investigation was discontinued without our client even having to face an interview under caution.