A heartbroken pensioner who was robbed of thousands of pounds by a close family friend as she lay paralysed in hospital says: “They ruined my life.”
Widowed Myra Kincaid (68) entrusted her post office account card to the woman she had ”treated like a daughter” since she was seven years old during a 6-month stay in Ninewells Hospital.
However, callous Maureen Ferguson regularly dipped into her friend’s account until she and her husband, Martin Ferguson, were caught by police.
Myra said: ”They ruined my life. I can’t trust anybody any more.”
Her ordeal began when she was struck down by Guillain-Barre syndrome a nervous system condition which left her unable to move from the neck down in June 2010.
When it became clear her stay in hospital would be lengthy, and with her family based in the west coast, she turned to Ferguson a childhood friend of her daughter for help.
She said: ”I’ve known Maureen Ferguson since she was seven and I’ve treated her like a daughter. Her mum and I were best friends from 1970 when we were both in Errol together.
”I was in Errol and had my pension paid into the post office there and I asked her to take it from the post office and put it in the bank for my direct debits and personal things I needed. But they just helped themselves whenever they wanted.
”When I came home I was looking for statements and couldn’t find them. I asked Martin to get me some money to do me over Christmas and that’s when I discovered something was wrong and the police were called in.
”They took it because they thought I was dying or going to be in a home the rest of my life and they would get away with it.”
The Fergusons, of Muirmont Crescent, Bridge of Earn, were charged with stealing £7,000 from Myra’s account and a drawn-out court case followed during which the trial was delayed because Martin Ferguson claimed he was radioactive.
He said he was a danger to others because of radioactive iodine treatment he was receiving for an over-active thyroid gland. He also appeared at court in a wheelchair something which Myra said she hadn’t seen him using in over a decade.
They pled guilty last week, days before the rescheduled trial, to taking £2,500.
It is small consolation to Myra that she will not now have to appear at court.
She said: ”I’ve waited 15 months to tell my side of the story and I’ve been terrified. I’ve had to move house because of this. I sit with my doors locked day and night and looking over my shoulder all the time because I’m so scared.
”Maureen was a lovely young woman but she’s totally in thrall to him (Martin Ferguson) now. I hope they go to prison but I know they won’t because they’ve said they will pay back the £2,500 to avoid a custodial sentence.
”I’m not taking the money. I’m going to write a letter to the procurator fiscal. They’re evil I’d rather they went to jail.”
The Fergusons will be sentenced next month.