A therapist accused by his sister of stealing from their rich mom’s checking account has instructed a court docket of the “frightening” relationship he has along with his sibling.
Jonathan Feld denied two fees of theft from his 89-year-old mom, who’s reportedly affected by “significant cognitive decline”, in a personal prosecution from his sister, Louise Radley.
Feld, 62, appeared at Southwark Crown Court after being accused of taking greater than £1.5m of Hannah Feld’s life financial savings as soon as she grew to become too in poor health to take care of her monetary affairs.
The London therapist has now been cleared of stealing £1.3m from a joint Swiss checking account in his and Mrs Feld’s names between May 2015 and November 2017.
Judge Gregory Perrins directed the court docket jury to return a not responsible verdict after saying: “As a matter of law it is not legally theft to effectively steal from yourself.”
Feld denies an extra cost of theft regarding nearly £270,000 allegedly stolen from his mom’s Israeli Bank Leumi account.
This sum is assumed to have been taken by way of withdrawal of money from ATMs, utilizing Mrs Feld’s bank cards for purchasing sprees, and making financial institution transfers between October 2014 and September 2017.
‘Our relationship is non-existent’
Feld supplied proof of a “fraught” relationship along with his sister by telling the court docket how he was banned from her residence round 2006 and that their relationship had since “got worse”.
Feld, from Kilburn, northwest London, described their relationship as “fraught, frightening, non-existent”.
However, he has an “excellent” relationship along with his mom, who he visits as much as eight occasions a yr in Tel Aviv, Israel, the place she retired together with her late husband Monty, who died in 2010.
Feld had labored for the household clock and watch agency earlier than turning into a therapist and mentioned his mother and father have been “extremely generous” to him and his sister.
He instructed the jury his mom, who had supported him by way of his drug dependancy in his 20s, was not a “miser” and “spent her money freely” while additionally serving to the siblings buy properties.
Mrs Feld favored to have “at least £500 in cash” and sometimes gave cash and presents to the accused’s son and the daughter of his present associate, Feld instructed the court docket.
‘My mum would store in every single place’
Prosecutor Adam Gersch beforehand implied to jurors that it was unlikely Mrs Feld had been chargeable for a “magical mystery tour” of spending throughout a visit to London in April and July 2017, with transactions “totally out of keeping with the expenditure of a lady in her advanced years”.
But her son denied all theft allegations, saying: “My mother liked to wear fashionable clothes, she liked to wear skinny jeans, and she liked to wear jackets, and she would shop everywhere.
“(She would purchase) presents for different individuals, flowers, sweets, jewelry, jewelry for herself very hardly ever.”
He added: “She would purchase perfumes and pores and skin lotions of a selected make and model she favored.”
The trial continues.
Source: information.sky.com”