A FRAUDSTER was today starting a nine-month prison sentence after stealing from a man who treated him like a son.

Roland Mawston, 51, helped himself to £11,000 from the building society account of Parkinson Disease sufferer Robert Long, of the Ivy Lodge Residential Home, Haxby.

Simon Hickey, prosecuting, said the theft came to light after Mr Long's death, when his daughter, Winifred Holland, discovered the money was missing.

After attempting to contact Mawston on numerous occasions, she called in the police.

"The men had become friends in 1973 and Mr Mawston said they had developed a father and son relationship over the next 20 years," said Mr Hickey.

"When Mr Long moved to the residential home, he signed releases to allow Mr Mawston to deal with his affairs.

"Mr Mawston was clearly in a position of trust, but on two occasions took sums amounting to £11,000 after he found himself in financial difficulties when he moved to Norfolk in 1991.

"He had a cash-flow problem and needed to pay his creditors - what he stole went into the hands of the bailiffs."

At first Mawston claimed the money had been a gift because Mr Long had not wanted to see him "go to the wall".

But Jeremy Priest, mitigating, said Mawston, of the Feathers pub, Aylsham, Norfolk, now accepted he was guilty of theft and was ashamed of his behaviour.

In sentencing him to nine month in jail, Judge Jacqueline Davies said Mawston had committed a crime against an elderly man which would appal and revolt right-thinking people.

"Mr Long was severely disabled and he put his trust in you to manage his affairs as if they were your own," she said.

"That is exactly what you did. You abused his trust. Your defence at first was to say that the money was a gift, no doubt hoping to be able to establish this because your victim had died.

"This offence must be marked with a sentence of imprisonment."

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