A man has been sentenced to more than 3 years for stealing £75,000 while working as carer in Salisbury

Allan Beacham, 66, of Wootton, Kent, was sentenced on Friday (21st June) at Winchester Crown Court after pleading guilty at a previous hearing.

In May 2016, Beacham worked for a care company and was sent to care for his victim, Alan Pattillo, the successful film-writer in Scotland. Mr Pattillo was registered blind, in a wheelchair and had Parkinson’s. The following year Mr Pattillo moved to Salisbury and continued to employ Beacham.

Mr Pattillo's solicitors appointed a paralegal to manage his overall finances and portfolio while Beacham managed his day-to-day finances, his care needs and he would liaise with the paralegal when funds needed to be transferred into the current account.

During the spring of 2019 the paralegal left the solicitors, and a solicitor was appointed. Mr Pattillo moved into a local care home and concerns were raised about large amounts of cash being removed from his bank account, and a report was made to Wiltshire Police.

Due to the large number of lines of enquiry needed to be investigated including witness statements (some as far as Australia and the Outer Hebrides), the scrutiny of banking information and files held by the solicitors, the investigated was long.

It was established that Beacham would request money from the Attorney for goods or services which should have been for the benefit of his patient but as soon as the money arrived in his account Beacham would withdraw the cash for his own benefit and his addiction to the National Lottery.

Unfortunately, his victim died during the investigation, however it was deemed that it was in the public interest to continue with the investigation which culminated in charging Beacham with theft of approximately £75,000 from October 2017 – May 2019.

DC Nick Bishop, now of Regional Organised Crime Unit said: "Mr Beacham has been sentenced today and at long last despite his continued efforts to frustrate and delay Justice for the victim’s family has received a custodial sentence of three years and 10 months.

"It was obvious that Mr Beacham thought he could continue to procrastinate and make a mockery of the justice system for as long as possible in the vein hope that the crown would concede and let him off. Unfortunately for him he was the only person that thought this, after all his antics justice caught with him and he has been handed an appropriate sentence.

"His crime was against a very elderly and vulnerable man, who he had employed as a trained live in carer and who he totally depended and trusted to look after on him in his later years. Instead, Mr Beacham utterly abused this trust and position by stealing a vast amount of money from his employer for his own satisfaction and addiction.  

"Wiltshire Police would like to thank everyone involved with their collaborative work including the Crown Prosecution Service and prosecution counsel Mr Evans to finally bring justice to the victim’s family."