A woman who defrauded more than £40,000 from a 91-year-old relative has promised to pay back the cash before she is sentenced.
Last week at Antrim Crown Court, 49-year-old Michelle Gregg confessed to five counts of fraud by false representation by cashing cheques she was not entitled to between June and September 2021.
This amounted to £40,300 but she had also denied nine other charges including two of theft and six of forgery.
On Friday, prosecuting counsel Michael Chambers told the court the victim and her family had held a meeting “and ultimately it’s been agreed that we do not seek a trial on the remaining counts.”
He added, however that this was on the strict basis that Gregg paid back the money she stole before she is sentenced.
Mr Chambers told Judge Alistair Devlin that “the lady herself has found these proceedings very heavy to deal with…and she is anxious to get the money back as soon as she can so that she can make plans”.
Defence counsel Michael Smyth said he had held lengthy consultations with Gregg, revealing that knowing she was going to enter guilty pleas “she has already taken steps to try to arrange restitution".
“She knows the time scale and she is motivated to have that paid back before sentencing,” he told the judge.
Mr Chambers warned that while he had received assurances the elderly victim will have her money rightfully returned to her, if the promise of restitution was not fulfilled “I may have an application to reinstate those counts which had been left on the books”.
Ordering a pre-sentence probation report and adjourning passing sentence until November 17, Judge Devlin told Gregg “you have heard what has been said about the issue of restitution - I hope you will make every effort to ensure that is done".