A SHAMELESS fraudster swindled thousands of pounds from a grieving family before blowing the cash on horse semen and a £3,000 birthday party.
Peter Littler, 61, was appointed executor of Joseph Webster’s will, and should have distributed the man’s £166,000 inheritance fairly amongst his children and grandchildren.
When the deceased man’s house was sold, the proceeds were supposed to pass through solicitors before being handed over to the rightful heirs.
But Littler instead transferred the funds directly into his own bank account ignored repeated requests from the family to hand it over.
At one point, he told one of the beneficiaries that he “can do what I want as executor of the will”.
The fraudster splashed out £3,000 on a 60th birthday party, £2,000 on semen from an Olympic racehorse and sent money to a family member who was caring for her child who had cancer.
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Littler also used the money from the sale of a house to pay his own overdraft and failed to transfer the funds to the rightful beneficiaries.
The former security operations manager did not inform his family members he was spending their inheritance, after being trusted to act as executor for their father’s estate, reports Lancs Live.
Preston Crown Court heard how Littler’s wife Karen had been estranged from her father, Joseph Webster, for a number of years.
In the months before he died the pair had reconciled and Mrs Littler took comfort in providing end-of-life care for her father.
But two weeks before Mr Webster’s death in September 2022, he changed his will, appointing Littler to act as executor.
Mrs Littler told the court her husband – who she has since separated from – said she should fight for a share of a property in Spain which had been left to her sister.
She said Littler was the breadwinner in their marriage and she was a housewife, but would be given money by her husband.
When Mr Webster’s house was sold, in May 2023, the proceeds were to be transferred to a solicitor who was dealing with the estate.
But the court heard Littler transferred the funds to his own account and ignored requests.
Littler, formerly of Tarporley Road, Stretton, Cheshire, was arrested, interviewed, and later summonsed to court for fraud by abuse of position.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced last week at Preston Crown Court to 40 months in prison.
In a victim impact statement, Karen Littler said the crime has caused physical, emotional and financial devastation.
The family had to begin civil proceedings to claw back the money that was stolen from them.
Karen said: “His suggestion I only reconciled with my father for financial gain is a very cruel and calculated lie.
“I returned to receive my father’s apology and I accepted it and nursed him to his death.
“He [the defendant] has zero remorse for the irreversible damage he has caused my whole family. My father would be heartbroken. He wanted us to become friends again – it was his dying wish.”
Sentencing, Judge Michael Maher said: “This was a manifest abuse of the trust placed in you. Because of your own financial difficulties and your prolific spending you shamelessly cheated six beneficiaries out of a substantial inheritance from a much loved father and grandfather.
“Your corrupt and selfish actions deprived them of the ability to make financial choices in their own lives, such as reducing mortgage payments, renovating, moving house or taking holidays, simply to make their lives easier.
“You knew one had Multiple Sclerosis. You knew her child had leukaemia. To keep that money from them is, in my judgement, mean and shabby.
“You then decided that if you were going to be incarcerated you were going to denigrate your wife and take her with you. She has been vilified by you and labelled as corrupt. There was no substance to that.
“Your corrupt and selfish actions deprived them of the ability to make financial choices in their own lives, such as reducing mortgage payments, renovating, moving house or taking holidays, simply to make their lives easier.”
