Former model stole £230,000 from her grandmother with late stage dementia

She admitted using the money to fund her lavish spending on top restaurants and hotels in Los Angeles.

An ex-model and fashion designer stole £230,000 from her own grandmother so she could live a jetset lifestyle.

Emily Evans-Schreiber, 38, has been given a suspended sentence for taking the money from Rosina Evans, who was terminally ill with late stage dementia and recently died aged 95.

The mum-of-one had just £40 in her current account before she took advantage of having control of her grandma’s finances to send herself the money between April and December 2018.

She admitted using the money to fund her lavish spending on top restaurants and hotels in Los Angeles.

Her mum became concerned about how she was managing to afford all this despite not having a job.

She contacted the bank and found that money had been transferred from Ms Evan’s account.

Police were called in and found that £230,000 had been transferred as 42 different transactions.

Evans-Schreiber, who previously worked as a fashion consultant for Cara and Poppy Delevinge, left her grandmother with just £5,500 to pay for care costs.

Northampton Crown Court heard she sent the terminally-ill woman flowers and chocolate after the deception.

The court on January 10 that heard the defendant’s mother Clare had decided to buy her daughter a house in Northamptonshire to give her granddaughter, eight, a better life.

Prosecuting, Lynsey Knott said that Evans-Schreiber, of Naseby, Northamptonshire, had ‘lived the high life’ in London but at a family meeting in January 2018, she was told that she was old enough to start taking responsibility for her own life.

The socialite, niece of Conservative life peer Baron Marlesford, agreed to take control of her paternal grandmother Rosina Evans’s finances.

Rosina had been diagnosed with dementia in 2014 and lived alone in Surrey with help from social services carers.

Barrister Ms Knott said her money had ‘funded a lavish lifestyle – top end hotels, restaurants, non-surgical cosmetic treatments, high value shopping.’

The court was also told how £21,000 had been put into the account of Evans-Schreiber’s former partner Sam Oguche, the father of her daughter.

When police searched the defendant’s flat in May 2019 they discovered luxury shoes, clothes and sunglasses.

Wearing a green jumper, black skirt and black high-heels, Evans-Schreiber, who has 13,000 Instagram followers, wiped her eyes throughout the proceedings.

She pleaded guilty to one offence of theft and the court heard she had no previous convictions.

Mitigating, barrister Carolina Guiloff said that her client had always left enough money in her grandmother’s account for her to pay her care bills – and at the point police were called in there was £5,516 left in Rosina’s account.

She said the victim had never become aware of what had happened.

The court was told how the defendant had suffered from serious mental health problems and alcoholism and had been the victim of more than one abusive relationship.

Ms Guiloff said: ‘She was out of control and wasn’t in her normal mental state.

‘It would be wrong for your honour to be left with the impression that this was a cold and callous woman who had no regard for her grandmother at all.’

Ms Guiloff said that her client had attempted to gain employment since the incident and had checked herself into The Priory to try to overcome her addictions.

Psychiatrist’s reports presented in mitigation said that Evans-Schreiber’s actions had been influenced by her mental health issues.

Using judgments from previous court cases, Ms Guiloff argued that as the primary carer for a young child, Evans-Schreiber should not be sent to jail.

Sentencing her to a two-year jail term suspended for 20 months, 150 hours of community service and alcohol treatment programme, Judge Rebecca Crane said that she had taken into account all the mitigating factors.

She added: ‘Do not come to this court again asking for a second chance. That’s what you’ve been given today.’