Milton Keynes daughter jailed for defrauding her elderly father out of house and life savings

A callous daughter who put her elderly father in a care home, sold his house without telling him and plundered his entire life savings has been jailed for more than three years.

Fherisia Dougall and her husband David were both convicted of fraud by a jury and were jailed by a judge at Amersham Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard the frail father died in the care home where he was put in by his daughter and son-in-law.

Cecil Coetzee died without seeing his cynical daughter jailed for the financial abuse she inflicted on him. The case had been started at crown court but was adjourned when the defence applied to have the jury dismissed. Cecil died before the hearing resumed.

Dougall, aged 57, and 59-year-old husband David, trapped elderly Mr Coetzee in their home in Milton Keynes after convincing him that he should move in with them to be better looked after, the court heard.

At the time, Mr Coetzee had lived alone in South Africa where he was born, and his rapidly failing sight meant he became depressed and vulnerable.

The couple, who were in debt and financially struggling, tricked Mr Coetzee into transferring the totality of his life savings into their joint account by telling him they would open a bank account in his name after he settled in. They never did.

Instead they spent his life savings of £49,354, as well as the £47,946 profits from the sale of his property in South Africa, which was also carried out without his consent or prior knowledge.

Judge Geoffrey Payne, sentencing a on Friday, told the couple: "This was a particularly cynical and premeditated set of offences. You deprived Mr Coetzee of the security and dignity he was entitled to at the end of his life.

When you took Mr Coetzee in, you were financially struggling and your joint account was often overdrawn. You saw an opportunity in the person of Mr Coetzee to alleviate your financial woes."

The court heard that Coetzee, who passed away in June last year, often asked for access to his money.

"When he did," said Judge Payne, "he was met with hostility and the atmosphere at home became miserable. On one occasion, Mr Dougall, you even slammed the table and became aggressive. In your interview with the police, you said of Mr Coetzee that he was 'full of shit' and 'a waste of everyone's time’.

"But one of the most egregious aspects of this case is that you separated Mr Coetzee from his previous life in South Africa.

"You flew him over without letting him say goodbye to his friends of half a century and once in the UK, you told Mr Coetzee that his friends and family in South Africa did not want to speak to him anymore. This was to avoid the truth from coming out, namely that you were defrauding him."

The Dougalls later moved Mr Coetzee into a care home, where he was left "penniless, homeless, far away from his country and without a regularised immigration status, and reliant on the kindness of strangers," said Judge Payne.

The financial abuse of Mr Coetzee lasted six years from August 2013 to January 2019.

Both David, who worked in car sales and his wife Fherisia were charged with fraud.

The court heard most of that money was absorbed by living expenses but the Dougalls also used it to finance the purchase motorcycles and travel costs.

Ann Smith, a volunteer for Age UK, helped Mr Coetzee obtain a right to remain in the UK after he put into the care home.

Mr Coetzee's poignant impact statement was read to the court on his behalf by Ms Smith.

"There was constant hostility and animosity towards me," his statement read. "Fherisia just blanked me and neglected even my most basic care and hygiene needs.

"Although normally I never cried, I couldn't stop crying, even when David taunted me because of it. They threatened me that I would be sectioned if I didn't do what they told me to.

"I felt ashamed of myself ending up like this. I still can't believe what my own family has done to me. How could my own daughter do this to me?"

Judge Payne told the couple: "The effect your actions had on Mr Coetzee were both profound and devastating. All he wanted was control over his own money and his autonomy."

The couple were each convicted of two counts of fraud - one for the spending of Mr Coetzee's life savings and the second for the sale of his house in South Africa.

They each received a prison sentence of three years and three months.