THE family of an elderly theft victim who lost over £22,000 to a Sarnau man with “significant” gambling debts say he now cannot even pay for the cost of his own funeral.

Pensioner Dewi Davies had planned to buy a burial plot next to his mother in the village of Capel Iwan, where he grew up.

But the 84-year-old, who suffers from dementia, lost all his money to fraudster Simon Neil Miles who drained money from his accounts leaving one containing just 97p.

Simon Neil Miles, 31, who admitted fraud by false representation, was jailed for 12 months when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Friday. He was also ordered to pay a £100 surcharge.

“He had put money aside to buy a burial plot next to his mother in Capel Iwan which is here he was from – now there’s only 97p in there,” his niece Gillian Morgan told the Cambrian News.

“He never wanted to be cremated, but now we just cannot afford to buy the plot he’d set his heart on. We just cannot believe someone could have done such a thing to such a vulnerable person – Uncle Dewi trusted Simon with his money and he goes and does that.”

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