(Original story published on 16/05/18 on GetSurrey website – Original story)

A Byfleet carer guided the pen of a dying grandmother to get her to sign her over nearly all of the money in her bank account, a court has heard.

Rosie Stonard had returned from a holiday to her home in the Philippines when she helped seriously ill Marjorie Tomlinson write out a cheque to her worth £22,000 – leaving her with just over £1,000 in the bank.

The jury was told that the deathbed cheque – dated May 10, 2014 – was made when Walton resident Mrs Tomlinson was given just days to live after it was discovered she had cirrhosis of the liver when she was also treated at hospital for a broken wrist on her dominant hand.

Stonard was already written in Mrs Tomlinson’s will to be left £5,000, a further £10,000 in cash that was in a safe at her flat, and a Royal Crown Derby tea set.

She appeared in the dock at Guildford Crown Court on Monday (May 14) wearing a beige jacket, red top, and a blue scarf, as prosecutor Simon Shannon told a jury that Stonard felt she was entitled to the money as she had worked for Mrs Tomlinson for so long.

“Mrs Tomlinson was very very ill indeed and it was feared she may pass away at any moment,” he said.

“The prosecution case is that Rosie Stonard knew how much money was in Mrs Tomlinson’s account, a little over £23,000 at the time, and it is no coincidence the cheque was made out for £22,000. She wanted what she could get before Mrs Tomlinson passed away.”

The 50-year-old first began working as a cleaner for Mrs Tomlinson and her husband in 1998, but quickly became their carer when he suffered a stroke in 2000.

The trial is being held at Guildford Crown Court (Image: Steve Porter)
The jury of five men and seven women heard Mrs Tomlinson relied on Stonard a great deal following her husband’s death in 2012 and had previously lent the carer £20,000 to pay for an extension on her home.

“There is no doubt the two were close, and no doubt from time to time Mrs Tomlinson was generous to Rosie Stonard,” said Mr Shannon.

“It was agreed if the £20,000 was not repaid by the time Mrs Tomlinson died that money would be written off as well.”

Mrs Tomlinson’s suspicious granddaughter, Victoria Eugene, discovered the cheque when she became concerned about the state of her grandmother’s finances, the court heard.

A month before Mrs Tomlinson’s died at the age of 87, Ms Eugene confronted the carer at her grandmother’s flat in October 2014, where Stonard told her that Mrs Tomlinson had insisted she give it to her and had written it out to her with a close family friend – a retired bank manager – present.

But Ms Eugene was unsatisfied with the carer’s explanation and reported her to the police, where Stonard told officers she had written out the cheque, but Mrs Tomlinson had signed it herself, the court heard.

However, the jury was told that a handwriting expert analysed the cheque and found it had not been signed by the pensioner at all.

“Rosie Stonard’s case now in fact is it wasn’t Marjorie Tomlinson that signed the cheque, not at least all by herself, and she had to assist by putting the pen in her hand and guiding her hand as she signed it because she acknowledged Mrs Tomlinson was very frail at the time,” said Mr Shannon.

Stonard, of Spence Avenue, denies one count of fraud.