A former solicitor has been spared a spell behind bars after he admitted failing to declare his mum's financial position for her care.
David Robinson, who was previously a solicitor practising in personal injury work, was given power of attorney to manage his mother Paula Robinson's financial affairs.
His mum, who died at the age of 86 in 2019, was placed in a care home in Nottinghamshire in 2015 and her son filled out forms giving details about her financial assets to Nottinghamshire County Council.
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At a later stage he became aware of a Scottish Widows investment policy that his mum had but failed to declare this to the council.
Instead, he cashed in the policy and put it into a bank account. The cash was later used to buy a property, in trust for his children.
When this was discovered, Robinson said his mother intended to leave the cash to his children and he had used the money for their benefit.
At Newcastle Crown Court, the 56-year-old, of Shoreswood Way, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to two offences of fraud, relating to the failure to declare information.
As a result of the offences, the council ended up paying around £39,500 towards his mum's care that they did not need to.
Mr Recorder James Wood gave Robinson a prison sentence of 20 months, suspended for 18 months, as well as a four-month curfew to run from 8pm to 5.30am, and 100 hours of unpaid work.
In addition, the defendant, of previous good character, agreed to pay full compensation to the council.
After the offences came to light, Robinson removed himself from the solicitors' register and is no longer a practising lawyer, it was said.
The court heard that Robinson and his sister were given power of attorney for their mother some years ago.
In December 2014, their mum had to go to hospital after suffering a stroke and she was moved to a care home in Nottinghamshire in February 2015.
The defendant was asked to complete a set of financial assessment forms by the county council. At that stage, he was not aware of her full financial affairs but later found out she had a Scottish Widows investment policy valued at £50,000.
However, he did not inform the local authority of this asset and cashed this policy using the power of attorney, it was said.
The money was paid into a bank account, which was also not declared to the council.
A further amount of cash was transferred into that account in 2016 and the money was later used to pay for a house, which he said would benefit his children.
In a statement to the court, the local authority said: "The council's budgets are very limited. Paying care fees for someone who is not entitled to funding will have an impact on other people who require care services from the council."
Defending Robinson, Paul Cross said: "His position is this - his mum had originally wanted to leave her estate to him and his sister.
"She then took the view they had done well for themselves and wanted the money to go to the grandchildren.
"He did it for the benefit of his children. He accepts he should have declared it to the council.
"This was not motivated by personal gain. It was for the benefit of his children, who his mother wanted the money to go to. He has not had any personal money out of it."
