Yvonne Langan, a 59-year-old teaching assistant, has been ordered to repay half of the money she defrauded from her elderly mother or return to jail. At a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Truro Crown Court, she was told to pay back £124,136 within three months or face 28 months in custody.
Langan had admitted fraud by abuse of position and was jailed for 37 months last November. She has already been released from custody on a tag after less than a year behind bars, as reported by Cornwall Live and Plymouth Live.
The fraud
According to both outlets, Langan siphoned money from her mother Elizabeth Thomas's bank account between April 2020 and January 2022 in Looe. Her mother had sold her home to pay for care in a local residential home, but Langan had power of attorney and took control of her finances. Langan benefited a total of £255,183 from her crimes, but the court found her available amount to be £124,136.
Judge James Adkin had previously told her that she "helped herself" to her mother's money and lavished it on her family. Prosecutor Althea Brooks said that Mrs Thomas did not accept that any of the transactions were with her permission.
The couple spent thousands of pounds on home improvements, trips to London hotels, cars, foreign holidays to Thailand and Malaga, a £4,000 Rolex watch for their teenage son, new golf clubs and a golf club membership, and a £3,000 electric bike.
The husband's role
Langan put £49,000 of the ill-gotten gains into a joint account with her husband Paul Langan, a BT engineer. The couple, who lived in Looe, divorced in July 2024. Paul Langan was convicted after a trial of possessing criminal property and was given a suspended jail term. At the Proceeds of Crime hearing, he was also ordered to pay back £54,625 within three months or face 18 months in jail.
Paul Langan was jailed for 15 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work, according to the same reports.
Additional fraud
At the November sentencing hearing, Langan, who was a Looe FC treasurer, also asked for a £4,146 fraud to be taken into consideration. She had taken money raised by the club for a young man who tragically lost his life, causing "immense hurt and emotional damage" to those involved.
Family impact
Mrs Thomas died in 2023 after the fraud came to light. Langan's siblings said the family had been torn apart by the fraud, as money had been "frittered away on a spending spree" when they were not in financial difficulty. They added that their mother felt so embarrassed by the fraud that she refused to have a cremation with friends and family present. "We were denied saying goodbye to our beloved mum," the siblings said.
Langan admitted that her behaviour had ruined relationships and said she was "bitterly ashamed".
Both Cornwall Live and Plymouth Live ran the story under headlines highlighting the repayment order, using terms like "devious" to describe Langan. The reports rely on court statements and quotes from the prosecutor and family members.