A CORONER who stole £1.2m from a farmer who had appointed him as executor of his will has had his five year jail sentence plea dismissed.
The Llandeilo man, William John Owen, was sentenced in October 2014 to five years in prison after he admitted to nine counts of theft and eight counts of false accounting. The 81 year old’s representative, Charles Benson, QC, said: “The point I make is simply that the starting point for the sentence was too high.”
Mr Benson also told the hearing that the money was not taken for personal gain, but to help his company as he didn’t want to let his employees down.
“He makes the point that perhaps it would have been better to have retired rather earlier but he was just desperate to keep his business going and not let down his staff. That’s the core reason for what has happened.”
Mr. Owen did not attend the hearing last Thursday (Jul 14).
The court heard how he had taken the money left by the farmer, John Williams, despite being the person trusted to be executor of his will between 2003 and 2011. Mr Williams’ estate was worth £2.3m, and although much of it was left to charity, Mr. Owen first charged legitimate fees, before charging thousands more in illegitimate fees.
He was first arrested in December 2011 and plead guilty in September 2014. The judge, Stephen Hopkins, said during his sentencing: “You fall from grace has been spectacular.”
Mr Justice Hickinbottom dismissed the appeal, stating that: “The appellant was a pillar of the community and trusted as such. He breached a high degree of trust.”
He went on to say that a prison term of a man of Owen’s age would be “hard”.
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