Mother 'trusted son who defrauded her of £137k'

A pensioner who was allegedly defrauded out of £137,000 by her son has told a court she had "trusted" him with her money.

Geraldine Haydock told Newport Crown Court she had sold her home in Neath in 2010 and given the money to her son Simon to "invest on her behalf".

But she claimed Mr Haydock had "reinvested it against my wishes, so I couldn't do anything about it".

Mr Haydock, 49, from Cardiff, denies fraud, saying the money was a gift.

Giving evidence, Mrs Haydock, a retired teacher in her 70s, said she asked her financial adviser son to invest "for a year" as she did not know her long-term plans.

She denied giving the funds to Mr Haydock as a gift, adding she had been left with no money to buy a home.

"How would I give Simon that money? I had to rent because I didn't have money. I wanted to buy another house," she told the court.

Mrs Haydock added: "I just trusted him, so I didn't really question it."

Prosecutors have claimed Mr Haydock, the managing director of Cascade Wealth Management, used the money to fund his gambling.

His mother told the court she could "get no response" from her son after he had reinvested the money.

Mrs Haydock said she stopped receiving what she described as interest payments, so had contacted her son on "numerous occasions" asking "please could I have my money back?".

However, she claimed that when she met her son in Cardiff two or three years ago Mr Haydock was "adamant" she had gifted him the cash.

"I don't want him to go to prison or anything, but I just want my money back," she said.

Mr Haydock denies a single count of fraud between December 2010 and July 2014.

The trial continues.