Just ask John Wilcox, who was deemed paranoid and delusional in his medical records. He was subsequently ruled to possess “mental capacity,” which meant that he could legally bestow lasting power of attorney over his finances. This judgment opened the door for his granddaughter, Amy, to take over control of his assets and wellbeing. John and his wife, Barbara Wilcox, enjoyed their quiet retirement in the Welsh countryside. They each had a successful business office-furnishing trade behind them in Leeds when they decided to retire home. Yet, this peace would soon be interrupted as family discord turned bitter over Amy’s misdeeds.
This family, aside from Amy, had no idea where John was for weeks. For Desmond, John’s brother, the search was doubly difficult. John had indeed previously requested and signed a No Contact Order that prohibited any contact between his caregivers and family members, except for Amy. It wasn’t until many years later that my dad learned that John was living in a nursing home in Devon. The circumstances were less than favorable. John had rented a hotel room with no maid service or provision of meals.
Amy’s tight grip on John’s health and financial affairs caused deep rifts in the family. Over the course of the following months, she severed all contact between John and the other members of his immediate family, even his wife, Barbara. Financially, Amy was in over her head too. She had drained over £5,000 from John’s bank accounts, leaving only 16p left. She had given John’s other grandchildren enough money to purchase houses, positioning herself to inherit more eventually as she was named the sole beneficiary in John’s altered will.
It was only when she started looking at Johns bank accounts that Barbara even discovered the magnitude of Amy’s irregularities. To her astonishment, John was now withdrawn and disoriented. He was doing this living alone in a single room once Amy had apparently convinced him to change his will. Once diagnosed with dementia in 2020, John became more vulnerable to manipulation.
“Dementia makes people susceptible to manipulation and those involved with overseeing important changes need to be extra-vigilant,” – James Warner
In May 2024, Amy was issued and accepted a police caution for fraud. She embezzled money from John’s account after his return to Wales. Unfortunately, this tragic development brought national attention to the lack of oversight in cases involving our most vulnerable citizens like John.
“There was no care at all. You would not leave a vulnerable old man like that.” – David
The proposed legislation would have provided exactly the kind of protection Barbara needed to avoid these kinds of fraudulent abuses of vulnerable seniors.
“In cases like John’s, where you have this kind of paranoia, solicitors involved with a power of attorney should be making enquiries of the family and verifying,” – Barbara
“As soon as she got him down there, the vitriol started.” – Barbara
John’s case serves as an important reminder to provide heightened scrutiny when power of attorney decisions are made on behalf of vulnerable adults. Amy broke bad and drained her grandfather’s finances. She orchestrated conditions to cut him off from his family.
