Fraudster posed as dead woman’s daughter in 'calculated' £14,000 con

A woman posed as a late pensioner’s daughter to organise her funeral behind the family’s back in a “calculated” £14,000 fraud, a court heard.

Figen Akin, 45, lied to get hold of Iris Waite’s death certificate so she could cash in £10,000 of life insurance, and also emptied £4,000 from the elderly woman’s bank accounts.

Inner London crown court heard Akin pretended to be Mrs Waite’s daughter as she arranged the funeral, and did not tell her relatives about the cremation service.

Akin, a mother of six, cared for Mrs Waite at her home in Earl’s Court when she fell out with her family.

She denied fraud at a trial, insisting she loved the pensioner “like a mum”, but was convicted by a jury of wilfully making a false declaration at Kensington and Chelsea register office, two counts of fraud and two charges of theft.

Recorder Timothy Clark QC sentenced Akin to a two-year suspended prison sentence, as well as 20 days of rehabilitation, saying: “When she died you took very little time representing to others you were her daughter and next of kin, and the beneficiary of her two life insurance policies.”

The judge rejected Akin’s claim that £4,000 was withdrawn from Mrs Waite’s bank account with the pensioner’s permission, adding: “Once you started withdrawing money, which you thought of as wages, it just became too attractive to you.”

Victor Wood, a family friend and the executor of Mrs Waite’s will, said relatives had been left hurt when they discovered they had missed the pensioner’s funeral, adding that Akin “in a calculated way took advantage of an older woman”.

The court heard Akin, of Bermondsey, befriended Mrs Waite in 2015. She was given access to the pensioner’s bank cards and PIN as she went shopping for her and cleaned her home.

No money has been recovered after the offences, which occurred in August 2016.