A crooked solicitor who swindled a family out of more than £400,000 after making a promise to a grandmother on her deathbed has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Pablo Belsey, 56, spent money on massage parlours, gambling and paying off his debts after offering his services to the Hood family and then disappearing with their inheritance.
Victim Marie Hood told Wood Green crown court that Belsey had been a trusted family friend before he betrayed them and fled to Spain.
“She recalled Mr Belsey holding the hand of her grandmother as she lay dying, saying he would take care of things and she was like family to him,” said Judge Margaret Dodd. “Mrs Hood was clearly devastated, having been repeatedly assured by Mr Belsey.”
Judge Dodd imposed the seven-year sentence on an absent Belsey, who skipped his trial and is on the run. When he is caught and extradited, he faces serving half the prison term in custody.
The court heard Belsey, who was a director of now-defunct London-based firm Spanish Property Solicitors, offered to help Mrs Hood when her grandmother was dying, including dealing with the proceeds of her estate. Between September 2017 and June 2018, he accepted about £444,000 into his bank account after being appointed co-executor of the will. But he never delivered the money to the family, submitting a huge legal bill and then disappearing with the rest of the money.
Belsey also defrauded Nadeem Amin and his mother of almost £21,000, after offering to broker the purchase of a property in Spain.
Prosecutor Andrew Evans said Mrs Hood’s family, who live and work on the Isle of Wight, had been left “in shock” and several now suffer from depression, anxiety and emotional struggles as a result of the fraud. Her grandfather ran a sweet shop in London and her grandmother also worked as they built up savings to pass on to their family.
Belsey has two previous convictions for similar offending in Spain from 2016 and 2004. Passing sentence, Judge Dodd said both the Hood and Amin families had spent money attempting to track him down in Spain, in failed attempts to retrieve their savings.
She said evidence gathered by police showed Belsey had used the stolen money for “spending on personal matters — gambling, massage parlours and repayment of a loan”.
“Once the defendant is apprehended, he will serve up to half of the prison sentence before he is released on licence,” she added.
Belsey, who had an address in Brixton when he was charged in 2021, was convicted after a trial in his absence of two counts of fraud by abuse of position.
