Prison for 'The Vulture'
A crooked South Staffordshire lawyer dubbed The Vulture, who swindled the blind widow of a millionaire out of more than £90,000, was jailed this afternoon.
Veronica Wilkinson funded a luxury lifestyle after plundering cash from 90-year-old Doris "Dot" Carrier within weeks of her husband's death.
Les Carrier was the former chairman of Wednesbury-based steel firm FH Lloyds.
Wilkinson, 50, former head of wills and probate at Codsall law firm Dunham, Brindley and Linn – now DBL Talbots – was jailed for two years and four months.
She arrived at court in a wheelchair and admitted 16 charges of fraud, theft and forgery.
Wilkinson forged a document giving her power of attorney over the finances of Alzheimer's sufferer Mrs Carrier, who lived in Codsall for most of her life. Within weeks of Mr Carrier's death Wilkinson used it to plunder the bank and building society accounts of the unsuspecting victim.Wilkinson, struggling with £60,000 debts, blew £37,000 on a new Audi and £6,000 on a pedigree chihuahua like Paris Hilton's.
The scheming solicitor of Priory Road, Stone, who was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court under her married name of Hyland, also bought jewellery and paid school fees for her daughter.
She knew there was more than £1 million in the frail widow's accounts and that she had no close relatives.
Recorder Diane Cotton told Wilkinson: "You preyed in the most despicable way on an elderly and vulnerable woman and used the money chiefly to fund your luxurious lifestyle. That poor lady is disabled and in a care home and the effect on her is immeasurable."
