Grieving Chesterfield man 'took money from children's savings accounts to pay for wife's funeral'

A grieving Chesterfield man took money from the savings accounts of two child victims to help pay for his wife’s funeral, a court heard.
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Carl Bonser had admitted eight counts of committing fraud by false representation at a previous hearing at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on February 14.

The case was then adjourned for Probation Service reports and the 39-year-old returned on Friday, February 21 for sentencing.

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The court was told that Bonser, of Sycamore Avenue, Boysthorpe, had withdrawn more than £1,200 from the two accounts in December 2018 from the two young victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Chesterfield Magistrates Court where Carl Bonser was sentencedChesterfield Magistrates Court where Carl Bonser was sentenced
Chesterfield Magistrates Court where Carl Bonser was sentenced

Prosecuting, Becky Allsop said: “They discovered that the money had been taken in a total of eight transactions and when Bonser was interviewed by police he told them that he had taken the money to help pay for his wife’s funeral. At the time he was interviewed in May last year he had paid back £100.

Mitigating, Kirsty Sergent said that Bonser had been struggling financially and had to take two months off work to care for his wife through her final days.

She said: “He never expected not to return the money and he has now paid it back in full. It’s going to leave him very short of funds this month but the children now have the money that they should rightly have had.”

Magistrates gave Bonser a 12-month community order to include 90 hours of unpaid work, and ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £85 victim surcharge.