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Selfish son Benedict Futter blows dad's cash on fraudulent spending spree

Futter used his dad's credit card to fund spending spree
Futter used his dad's credit card to fund spending spree

A selfish son, who used his dad's credit card to carry out a fraud two years ago, has done it again... even though his mother is seriously ill.

Benedict Futter, 33, escaped with a suspended sentence in 2011 and was ordered to repay £11,000 and do unpaid community work.

But he only repaid a few hundred pounds and cried off doing work claiming he was suffering from depression.

Instead, he secretly applied for two credit cards in his father’s name... and then plundered £7,500 in funds.

Now Futter, of Mayville Road, Broadstairs has been sent to prison after a judge branded him “a selfish and thoroughly dishonest individual... completely unable to consider anybody but himself.”

Judge Simon James had delayed sentencing him for the two frauds after hearing that Futter’s mother was seriously ill.

But he rejected a request from his defence barrister for another postponement – while Futter looked for a job to pay back cash from his latest fraud.

The judge told the thief: “I previously adjourned this case on compassionate grounds because of your mother’s terminal illness.

The case was heard at Canterbury Crown Court
The case was heard at Canterbury Crown Court

“But it seems to me that your mother’s last few months have been made all the more difficult by the undoubted stress she and your father have been put through by your selfishness.

“This is a cross that you will have to bear for the rest of your life. If it doesn’t act as a catalyst for you to change your ways – it is hard to imagine what might.”

In 2011, Futter was given a “lenient” 12 month jail sentence suspended for two years after the judge was told he had a job and could repay the fraud money.

Part of the sentence also included doing 250 hours of unpaid work but Futter then said he was suffering from depression and couldn’t carry out the work.

Instead, in January this year, the order was replaced by a curfew, but now it has been revealed that during the hearing he had kept silent about having already been questioned and admitting the second fraud to police.

Now he has been jailed for eight months at Canterbury Crown Court after the judge heard how Futter had gone on a spending spree buying “unnecessary luxuries” including clothes, hotel stays and alcohol.

“You have repaid the love and support from your family by yet again putting them through the shame of them seeing their son in the dock" - Judge Simon James

His barrister Tom Dunn said Futter’s life “nose dived into self destruction” following the break up of an eight-year relationship and he turned to alcohol as his debts mounted.

He asked the judge to defer sentencing to give Futter "one last chance" to get his life in order.

But the judge told the fraudster: “These new offences involved you using your father’s identity to obtain two credit cards, which were then used by you to obtain goods and cash.

“That sum was not limited by any self-imposed restraint by you, but because of the credit limits on the cards.

“You have repaid the love and support from your family by yet again putting them through the shame of them seeing their son in the dock.

“And you have repaid my leniency by continuing to commit offences in breach of the suspended sentence.”

In June last year, Futter was arrested for failing to pay the first compensation order and served five-and-a-half months in prison in default.

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