Woman jailed for defrauding her neighbour of £290k

A woman has been jailed for more than four years after defrauding her elderly neighbour out of his life savings.

Chelsea Iles, 29, from Matson, Gloucester, exploited her relationship with the victim to steal almost £290,000, which she partly used to fund her gambling addiction.

Iles previously pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by abuse of position and one count of making/supplying an article for use in fraud.

At Gloucester Crown Court on 13 February, Iles was jailed for four years and four months and is expected to pay back the financial gains made from criminal activities.

The victim, an "elderly and vulnerable" man in his 80s, was previously cared for by Iles' mother.

When she died in October 2022, Iles became the victim's carer and gained control of his bank account.

Between October 2022 and October 2023, Iles defrauded him of £287,825, spending £80,000 on gambling sites.

During that time, Iles transferred £55,700 back into the victim's account, and digitally altered bank statements when he asked to see them, knowing he had poor eyesight.

In October 2023, the victim's bank reported suspicious activity to the police.

The victim was unaware that 103 transactions had been made from his account in 11 months, and told investigating officers Iles was the only person with access to his account.

Iles was arrested in October 2023 and admitted the offences in January 2025.

Before sentencing, the judge heard how Iles had previously been convicted of defrauding an employer out of £7,500 in 2019.

The court was told that Iles was genuinely remorseful for her actions.

Sentencing Iles, the judge said: "Over a ten-month period you withdrew £700 a day, £80,000 was used for gambling – where did the rest go?

"When the victim wanted to see a bank statement, you took the cowardly way out and fraudulently altered the statements."

The victim's nephew said after the sentencing that it had been "a very upsetting, stressful time" for his uncle, who wondered "when he would get his money back".

"He put his trust in the next-door neighbour just to do some shopping for him," he said.

"He couldn't believe that she could do such a despicable thing to him."

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