A judge has publicly condemned Labour’s sentencing reforms after he was forced to spare prison to a woman who stole more than £43,000 from her dementia-stricken mother to fund holidays, luxury cars and an Alsatian puppy — telling the court the suspended sentence was “lenient” and one he would not have imposed were it not for the Government’s new guidelines.
Catherine Barningham, 49, an account manager earning £59,000 a year, had been appointed lasting power of attorney over her vulnerable 78-year-old mother Elizabeth Smith’s finances in 2015. She used that position of trust to plunder tens of thousands of pounds from the widow’s accounts while Mrs Smith, who had dementia, was living in a care home in Lincoln with barely enough cash for her own basic needs. Care home staff noted that Mrs Smith liked a particular brand of salted crisps but Barningham refused to buy them, saying they were “too expensive” — while simultaneously spending her mother’s money on foreign holidays, a BMW, a Mercedes, a new house, an O2 phone contract costing over £4,000 and trips with travel firm TUI.
Financial investigations at Leeds Crown Court revealed Barningham had spent £43,130 of her mother’s money on herself, including £12,559 in unexplained transactions and cash withdrawals. Under her management, Mrs Smith’s account — which the elderly woman believed held significant savings — was discovered by her son Michael Hart to be £1,600 overdrawn. Barningham also handled the sale of her mother’s home for just £40,000, despite the property being worth almost three times that amount.
Sentencing Barningham on Tuesday after she admitted fraud by abuse of position and acquiring criminal property, Judge Robin Mairs was scathing. “You had milked your mother as much as you could and only renounced power of attorney when the game was up. It is difficult to think of greater dishonesty or a more despicable abuse of trust. You are a thief who steals from her own mother. You have a good job. You have a job which could have funded your lifestyle. You did not need to steal from your mother. It was your greed which made you do so.”
Despite those words, Judge Mairs said he was “compelled, with much reservation” to hand Barningham a three-year suspended sentence rather than send her to prison immediately — because of reforms introduced by Labour in April extending the threshold for suspended sentences from two years to three. “There are many who would rightly say this is a lenient sentence, and indeed it is,” he told the court. “If it were not for the compulsion of the Community and Custodial Guidelines, it would not be imposed. But it is a single opportunity only. Breach it and you will go to prison.”
Barningham was seen visiting a nearby shop after her release on Tuesday, purchasing a bottle of wine, cigarettes and a bouquet of flowers.
When arrested in December 2024, Barningham had initially described her misuse of her mother’s account as “honest mistakes.” She later claimed she had been under financial pressure from debt consolidation issues and gambling debts. The reforms that spared her prison are the same measures that have also seen tens of thousands of prisoners released after serving just 40 per cent of their sentences, following an announcement by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood aimed at freeing up space in overcrowded jails.
