Dunedin court sentences Julie Morton to three years for stealing from elderly mother

Julie Morton was "motivated by greed" when she stole almost a million dollars from her ailing mother. Photo / Felicity Dear

• Julie Elisabeth Godfrey Morton, 60, was sentenced to three years and two months in prison for stealing nearly $965,310 from her elderly mother.
• Morton abused her power of attorney, spending the money on jewellery, clothing, and Amazon purchases.
• Morton’s three children contributed $1,250,000 to the estate to compensate for their mother’s theft.

A Dunedin woman “motivated by greed” stole nearly a million dollars from her elderly mother by abusing enduring power of attorney, a court has heard.

Julie Elisabeth Godfrey Morton, 60, was sentenced to three years and two months’ imprisonment in the Dunedin District Court on Friday morning.

She earlier pleaded guilty to six charges of theft in a special relationship, which represented hundreds of unlawful transactions over more than three years.

The court heard that in 2014, Morton’s father died and her mother lost capacity to manage her finances a few months later.

Morton’s mother was living in a rest home at the time and her health was declining. She died on April 3, 2018.

The court heard Morton spent the money frivolously and extravagantly. She bought jewellery, clothing and spent $12,222 on Amazon purchases.

Morton used her mother’s bank card to pay for landscaping that was undertaken on her property, for which she mislabelled the reference details as being for her mother’s properties.

Between December 2014 and April 2018, Morton transferred $668,939.41 from her mother’s bank account into her personal bank account, a Crown summary said.

During the same period, the defendant spent a total of $749,924 from her personal bank accounts.

Morton spent more of the money by using her mother’s bank cards.

In total, between January 5, 2015, and March 28, 2018, Morton stole $965,310 of her mother’s money and only repaid $6867.

When spoken to by police, Morton admitted she was given power of attorney after her dad died and her mother’s health was declining but offered no explanation for the money being transferred from her mother’s account.

Crown prosecutor Clementine Flatley called the offending “a breach of trust at the highest end”.

The defendant’s three children contributed $1,250,000 to the estate to make up for the money the defendant spent from the victim’s accounts.

The money was paid to Morton’s brother, who lost out on inheritance because of his sister’s offending.

Judge David Robinson said Morton’s offending was “motivated by greed”.

“You immediately helped yourself to [your mother’s] assets,” he said. “Your brother received significantly less inheritance than he was entitled to.”

In a statement to the court, Morton’s brother said he felt betrayed and the offending was devastating to him and his family.

He said the crimes were offensive to his mother, who was careful with money and had gone without luxuries for the benefit of her children.

Morton had another fraudulent conviction from 1997.

She was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment after stealing $220,000 from the real estate company she worked for.

At the time, the defendant said she did it because “it was an organisation making plenty of money for doing little work”.

A psychologist’s report said both thefts occurred shortly after the death of members of Morton’s family.

The report also said the defendant self-reported an abusive upbringing which left her feeling “numb and disconnected”.

Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said that showed “situational linkage” between the two crimes.

She said that after being released from prison the first time, her client raised her children, further educated herself and had a successful career, including working as an employment relations manager for Te Whatu Ora.

Judge Robinson said that proved Morton could live offence-free.

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