THERE is no justice.” Those were the words from Audrey Pagett yesterday when she learned that crooked John Morgan would only have to pay back a token £5 of the £154,000 he swindled from her elderly sister-in-law, and it is hard to disagree.
Morgan, a Vale of White Horse district councillor, preyed on Alzheimer’s sufferer Beryl Gittens and is now in prison for this wicked crime.
Yesterday, police investigators who had hoped to recover at least a sizeable chunk of money through Morgan’s assets for Mrs Gittens’ son Roger, had to admit defeat. He no longer had anything of worth.
The home he had owned with his wife has passed to her in the settlement for their divorce.
The Gittens family, to be frank, would be justified to feel as though they have been robbed twice over now.
Of course they can draw some comfort from the fact Morgan is behind bars, but no one can defend this outcome as fair or just.
The Proceeds of Crime Act was drawn up to deprive crooks of enjoying the fruits of their criminal enterprises, even if they were caught.
All his assets, even those held jointly with his wife, should have been frozen until these matters were settled. He owed that family.
But thanks to this ridiculous loophole the Gittens family are left as the helpless victims for a second time.
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