{"id":303760,"date":"2026-02-26T21:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/303760\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T21:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:09:08","slug":"gambling-addict-stole-his-vulnerable-mothers-life-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/303760\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling addict stole his vulnerable mother\u2019s life savings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Wayne Clouting, 56, started to help himself to his dependent mother\u2019s bank account while acting as her carer and staying in the spare room of her home in Attleborough.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Norwich Magistrates\u2019 Court was told he had transferred more than \u00a310,000 to himself and into a number of online gambling accounts between April and December last year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Jackie Hanlon, prosecuting, said his mother was elderly and vulnerable and was \u201creliant and totally trusting of her son\u201d.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The \u201chigh abuse of trust\u201d had seen him steal savings and the proceeds of a house sale that she was relying on to see her through old age.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Wayne Clouting helped himself to the bank account of his vulnerable mother\"\/>Wayne Clouting helped himself to the bank account of his vulnerable mother (Image: Norfolk Constabulary)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Clouting, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He also admitted possession of a seven-inch knife which was found underneath a pillow during a search following his arrest.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Magistrates jailed him for 12 months and imposed a five-year restraining order banning contract with his mother.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The former delivery driver had originally been charged with stealing more than \u00a320,000 but his basis of plea was that he had taken \u00a310,265 which could be financially tracked, though the court was told more had been taken.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  His mother has since been refunded for the losses by the Nationwide Building Society.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Clouting has been jailed for 12 months for fraud by abuse of position\"\/>Clouting has been jailed for 12 months for fraud by abuse of position (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  James Landles, mitigating for Clouting, said his \u201cdespicable behaviour\u201d had come after he had \u201cnot been able to juggle his job, relationship and caring for his mother\u201d.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Following the break-up with his former partner he had moved in with his mother after becoming unemployed and homeless and had become \u201cembroiled in a gambling addiction\u201d.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cHe didn\u2019t set out to defraud his mother from the outset,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wayne Clouting, 56, started to help himself to his dependent mother\u2019s bank account while acting as her carer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-303760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}