Desperate drug-addict joiner frogmarched mum, 84, to Wakefield ATM in the middle of the night
A drug addict who persistently fleeced his 84-year-old mother for money even dragged her out of bed in the middle of the night to frogmarch her to a cash machine.
Manipulative Robin Wray would cry and threaten to kill himself if she refused to hand over her money, and he would harass her up to 13 hours a day.
Wray, 48, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting coercive control and harassment without violence.
He had worked as a joiner but lost his job due to his increasing drug use, prosecutor Emily Thorbjornsen said.
He lived between his mother’s home in Horbury and various friends.
Having lost his employment, he relied on his mother for money. On one occasion, she had £200 of her pension on a Monday, and by the Wednesday, she was down to just £29 because of Wray’s persistent badgering.
He would demand her bank card in the middle of the night, and would get angry and threaten to harm himself if she refused.
Wray would walk her to the cash machine at all hours. At one point he wanted money as a “loan” and told her he would buy drugs in bulk, sell them and repay her “within days”.
She later said on one occasion he began pestering her at 8am and was still begging for money at 9pm.
She would be left with no cash or food in the house. She lost weight due to the stress caused by Wray.
Wray was arrested last year and during his police interview said he received about £500 over the past year but denied pressuring her.
Wray, who appeared in court via video link from HMP Leeds where he has been held on remand for the last two months, has just one previous conviction.
Mitigating, Christopher Morton said Wray had never been violent towards his mother.
He said: “He has expressed to the probation service his remorse for the distress he has caused his mother and expressed his intention to try and make amends.
“He has expressed his intention to address his problems and said to me he is just 'tired of this life'.”
Judge Howard Crowson told him the harassment was “persistent and caused a degree of psychological distress”.
He said: “Your behaviour obviously became more frightening. You were preying on your mother in a much more sinister way.
“You escorted her to the bank. Sometimes she was left with nothing for herself.
“It was entirely done to feed your drug addiction.”
Judge Crowson said it was “simply too serious” to hand Wray anything other than custody, so jailed him for 21 months.
He also gave him an indefinite-length restraining order to stop him visiting his mother’s home.