9:00am Thursday 6th November 2008
By James Calnan
A couple have spoken out against a solicitor who stole tens of thousands of pounds left to charities by a mother in her will.
Former Brightlingsea solicitor Philip Totenhofer, 61, has been jailed for three years after admitting six charges of theft from charities, totalling nearly £200,000.
At Chelmsford Crown Court, he admitted taking £41,051.50 intended for Macmillan Cancer Support and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution – cash bequeathed by Ellen Grout, who died aged 82 in 1998.
Mrs Grout, who had suffered from alzheimers, left everything to her son Ted, who had learning difficulties, to support him.
When Ted died suddenly in May 2004, Mrs Grout’s will instructed Totenhofer, who then worked from a base in Queen Street, Brightlingsea, to sell her home, pay for the funeral and other bills and hand the rest of her money to the two charities.
It was only when her other son Peter, 69, and wife Diana, 68, who live in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, contacted the causes two years ago, that they discovered the money had not reached them.
Mrs Grout said she was suspicious after Totenhofer told her husband he had no right to know how much each charity received from his mother’s estate.
“He turned round and said to my husband there’s no need for you to be here,” he said.
“That sent my brain working, and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with asking how much each of the charities got.
“He rang Macmillan and asked if there was a bequest made on behalf of a Mrs Ellen Grout.
“They said no, we’ve got no record of anything here."
“So we got in touch with the police. We had the fraud squad here and they came and interviewed us.”
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