Play all audios:
KATHERINE HILL MUST PAY BACK THE £50,000 SHE STOLE FROM HER TWO DAUGHTERS OR GO TO PRISON FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS, ON TOP OF HER 30 MONTH SENTENCE FOR FRAUD 15:11, 03 Jun 2025Updated 15:14,
03 Jun 2025 A mum who stole her daughters' £50,000 inheritance has been ordered to pay back every penny she took after she emptied their accounts in less than a year. Katherine Hill was
a trustee of the inheritance pot, which had been left to the girls by their maternal grandmother, but the former bank employee used her position to take the cash and even recruited her
elderly father as a "stooge" to help her steal the money that was intended to go to her daughters Gemma and Jessica Thomas. A trial at Swansea Crown Court heard Hill denied knowing
anything about large sums of cash being withdrawn from the account where the inheritance, saying it was her 93-year-old father who had done it. Both Hill and her father were found guilty of
fraud. The trial heard that the £50,000 was left to the teenage girls in 2016 by their grandmother, Margaret Hill - Katherine Hill's mother - with Katherine and Gerald Hill acting as
trustees for the money until the girls turned 25. The cash was placed into a Barclays Everyday Saver account in the names of the defendants, something that went against the advice of
solicitors and financial experts who had advised them that the inheritance should be appropriately invested. Article continues below Hill, 53, then recruited her father - the ex-husband of
Margaret Hill and the victims' grandfather - in her plan to embezzle the inheritance. The thefts came to light when one of the daughters asked for her share of her money early in order
to put down a deposit on a house - under the terms of the inheritance the money could be given to the girls early if the trustees agreed. After deliberating for two-and-a-half hours the jury
unanimously found both guilty. The judge, Recorder Greg Bull KC, told the defendants they were "thoroughly dishonest people" who had betrayed the trust placed in them. He said he
had no doubt Katherine Hill had been the driving force behind the fraud and had done so out of "spite" because of the money the victims had been left and because her daughters had
chosen to live with their father following her marital breakdown. He told her she had used the money left to her daughters as a "weapon" against them, conduct which was
"disgraceful". The judge said he was satisfied that Gerald Hill had been recruited as a "patsy" for the dishonesty but noted the pensioner had participated in the
offending over a 12-month period and for that he should be "thoroughly ashamed" of himself. Article continues below Katherine Hill was sentenced to 30 months in prison while Gerald
Hill was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months. The judge added: "She may still have money hidden somewhere for all I know. All I know is £50,000 is a lot of money
to vanish into thin air". Recorder Bull made a confiscation order in the sum of £50,000 in respect of Katherine Hill and gave her three months to pay with six months in default in
prison. A confiscation order of £6,000 was made in respect of Gerald Hill and he faces three months in prison if it is not paid. The judge ordered that the confiscated money be paid to the
victims of the fraud in the form of compensation.