Grandad stole funeral money for flutter on horses
The grandfather of burns tragedy girl Shannon Davies stole her funeral fund for a flutter on the horses.
Thomas Spoors, who was looking after the Scholes six-year-old when she was fatally injured in a barbecue accident earlier this year, escaped with curfew and community orders.
The youngster's dad today described Spoors as "sick scum" who had better not come near his family again.
The 56-year-old, of Stanley Place, Scholes, broke into the flat of his daughter, Suzanne Davies, and stole hundreds of pounds in cash just two months after Shannon lost her battle for life.
He appeared from custody before Wigan magistrates and pleaded guilty to burglary and stealing an unknown quantity of cash.
The money had originally been set aside for Christmas gifts, but after Shannon's death Suzanne and partner Glyn Gaskell decided that half of it should go towards the funeral costs. They have just been notified that the DSS is prepared to contribute 750,but that is only a little over half the cost.
Glyn said today that 550 had been taken in the raid and that only 250 of it had been recovered.
An alcoholic and epileptic, Spoors was seen by his daughter near her home, in Scholes, as she left to go shopping at around 2.15pm on Saturday, August 30.
About two hours later a neighbour again saw Spoors near the flat and, recognising him, innocently agreed to help the defendant climb through an unsecured first floor window so he could find a credit card he claimed to have left in the flat.
After leaving Spoors alone the neighbour became suspicious when he heard a loud crash from inside the property, the court heard.
Prosecutor Mike Ardern said: "The witness went back to the flat and asked Mr Spoors if he was burgling his daughter's flat, to which Mr Spoors replied: 'Yes, keep your mouth shut and grab a handful'.
"The handful related to a quantity of cash that was on the floor."
Click next page for more ...The court heard that the savings amounted to at least 450 in silver and change, a substantial portion of which had not been returned to the family.
Spoors was later arrested and immediately admitted to the offence, saying he would plead guilty when the case reached court.
Melissa Fagan, defending, said: "He's an alcoholic and he is epileptic and he has no recollection of how he came to commit the offence, although he does accept that it was he who was responsible."
Spoors was handed a six-month community order with a four-month curfew requirement, and ordered to pay 60 costs.
After the hearing Glyn said: "I don't think it is possible for anyone to stoop much lower than this: to rob your own family of money for your granddaughter's funeral. You have to be sick scum, despicable to do this.
"I knew it was him straight away. He had been looking after our Bethany, who has cystic fibrosis, for a couple of days so he knew where we kept the money for the kids' treats and the funeral.
"He went straight to it without disturbing anything else and then told his mates that it was money that he and his granddaughter had been saving.
"I tracked him down to Whelley bookies and he admitted it straight out.
"We can't believe he wasn't more severely punished. And the fact that we will struggle to get the money back to cover the funeral costs just adds insult to injuries.
"He has betrayed us all, including Shannon, and he is not welcome anywhere near us. He had better keep away."
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Thursday 02 September 2010
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