I was so frigging exasperated just by reading this, some people can be so in humane and take advantage of anybody.
According to UK Mail,
A man who stole £3,500 of charity money from his terminally ill daughter has been jailed.
Ashanti Elliott-Smith, 11, suffers from a rare disease that makes her look 80 and will likely not live past 15.
She was given the donation from Sussex British Motorcycle Owners Club (SBMOC) in 2010 so she could go for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to swim with dolphins.
But her father Albi Elliott, 44, hid the money from the rest of the family and within two months had spent it - on trips to Tesco.
Blasting his actions as 'callous and despicably devious', the judge at Chichester Crown Court jailed Elliott for three years.
The court heard Ashanti, who has Hutchinson-Gildford Progeria, was selected by her local biking club in West Sussex to receive a year's worth of charity money to go on her dream holiday.
At every event she attended, she was accompanied by her father Elliott, who claimed her mother Phoebe Smith, his ex, was ill or busy.
When they were finally presented with the money in December 2010 he told organisers to put the cheque in his name to book the trip.
But two months later, Ashanti and her mother attended an event at the club - and when organisers mentioned the money, she knew nothing about it.
Distraught, Ms Smith told The Sun: 'Knowing he stole from her killed me inside. To me it's the same as abuse, and it's heartbreaking for Ashanti to know he has ruined her wish.'
Defending his actions, Elliott told the jury he was saving the money in his mother's safe for Ashanti's funeral.Continue reading after the cut..........................
But when police approached his parents, they said they had not seen their son for four years.
He then claimed to have buried the thousands of pounds in his garden. Again, police found nothing.
Clive Etherington, SBMOC social secretary, said: 'It is disgusting. We never had any reason to suspect him.
'We met Ashanti in 2009 and we were really moved by her situation. We heard she wanted to go to America so planned a year of events - fun runs, curry nights, quiz nights... anything.
'A lot of the members put a lot of their own money into it.
'Albi brought Ashanti to every event and told us her mum, Phoebe, was ill. How would we know he was lying? He seemed to be looking after her fine.
'On the final day, a 60s themed charity Christmas party, we gave her a big cheque for £3,500, and he asked us to put the name A Elliott on it.
'We hadn't heard anything so in February when Ashanti's mother came to the club we asked her about their plans. It turned out she knew nothing about it.
'It is disgusting, a really sad sad case.'
Shaken by the experience, the club now refuses to sponsor any individual cases.
'It is really sad. There are so many people that need help that we want to help, but this has scared our members.
'How do we know where our money is going? We want to get the money back and pay for the trip ourselves, but it doesn't look like we can. It is just really, really sad.'
Ashanti and her mom |
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