Woman faces jail for theft of £140,000 from gran

While mother-of-two Katie Gosley-Shaw was living the life of dreams, her grandmother, 89-year-old Ruth Gosley, of Tockwith near York, was unable to pay her own heating bill.

The court heard that the 38-year-old’s four years of deceit and theft - all while she was claiming state benefits - saw her buying a £21,000 car, foreign holidays, hotel stays, new dresses and run several credit cards.

Speaking after the court case, Mrs Gosley has told she “adored” her only grandchild - but she has still not had an apology.

The money had been saved over the years as her husband worked hard at the family firm G H Gosley and Sons, an agricultural engineers and blacksmiths.

Gosley-Shaw, who used to work for a hair products company, showed no emotion as a jury convicted her unanimously of five counts of theft and two of fraud between 2009 and 2012.

The court heard how the mother, also from Tockwith, York, had planned to buy a £540,000 house with her partner without needing a mortgage. Gosley-Shaw spent nearly £10,000 on a single transaction at Feversham Arms health spa in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, the court heard.

Judge Rodney Jameson QC, said the offences were “serious, long, mean and wicked” for which she would receive “a significant prison sentence”.

Sentence was adjourned until the new year.