He bought a Mercedes and travelled to Dubai despite not having a job... then his family got suspicious

A devious son who stole over £250,000 from his dementia-suffering mum to fund a luxury lifestyle has been jailed. Karl Zierold was appointed as the lasting power of attorney over her financial affairs giving him full access to her bank account.

However, the 56-year-old splurged the cash, giving over £180,000 to a prospective business partner, and spending the rest on holidays to Dubai and Mauritius and payments on his Mercedes V8 GT.

His offending came to light when his family were made aware of an unpaid mechanic bill on his car and challenged him about it. He then admitted in letters to his family that he had stolen his mum’s money.

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Jailing him for three years and four months, Recorder Jason MacAdam said: “The phrase ‘chip off the old block’ is as far removed as can be possible when it comes to you.”

Prosecuting, Megan Edwards said Zierold’s mum was moved to a full-time residential care home in 2019 and the last power of attorney was put in place. This entitled Zierold, the eldest of four siblings, to look after matters to do with his mum’s property and her bank account.

In Spring of 2019, the siblings decided to invest the funds, though Karl was ‘resistant’, and they later realised the majority of the money had been removed by the defendant already.

This came about after concerns over an unpaid car bill were raised by his mum’s former partner. When Zierold’s brother, James, checked the account himself, he found the balance of over £220,000 was gone.

“He found all the money had been removed from the bank account into the defendants,” Ms Edwards