Supermarket employee left suicide notice after emptying his mom’s life financial savings of £595,000 earlier than turning himself in to police, court docket hears

A supermarket worker emptied his mother’s bank accounts of her £600,000 life savings before leaving her a suicide note and vanishing, a court has heard.

Simon Grimes, 44, wrote the note after his mother discovered the missing money and left his car near Beachy Head on the south coast. 

But several days later he walked into a police station and confessed to transferring the amount belonging to Linda Grimes, 73, and spending it on cocaine, alcohol and gambling, plus the payment of a loan shark debt.

The former Tesco employee, of Kenilworth Road, Petts Wood, Orpington, is now fighting the charges at Croydon Crown Court.

He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud by abuse of position in relation to a Royal Bank of Scotland account and Nationwide account between May 20, 2016 and June 16, 2022.

Ms Grimes discovered the loss and investigated with the assistance of her other son, Mark, 48.

The pair visited a local bank branch where the scale of the alleged offending became clear. 

Giving evidence in court today, Ms Grimes told a jury: ‘I was devastated. I just broke down in Nationwide and cried, not thinking my son could do that to me.

‘I did not give him any permission to do that. He just did it himself and there was never a straight answer.

‘I confronted him and he became angry because I think he knew what he did was wrong.

‘He said he put the money in an offshore account in Amsterdam to make more money, but it was a lie.’

Grimes had moved into his mother’s Orpington bungalow after his marriage collapsed, on the condition he contribute to the utility bills, but the trial heard he took advantage of this to intercept his mother’s post.

‘We did find all the letters he kept from me,’ said Ms Grimes. ‘In his bedroom there were lots of letters in my name, new bank cards and PINs.’

A few days after he was exposed Grimes left his mother a note on her coffee table.

She told the court it read: ‘I’m sorry for what I’ve done. By the time you read this I will be at Beachy Head and I will be dead.’

‘I had to call the police and they did a search of Beachy Head. That was not a very good day either,’ she added.

‘They did a search and a couple of days later he walked into a police station. I then heard he was in a psychiatric hospital and that is the last time I have heard of or seen Simon.’

Earlier, prosecutor Robin Griffiths told the jury: ‘Over several years, Simon Grimes abused the trust of his mother Linda by transferring funds from her RBS and Nationwide accounts into his own bank account.

‘Before he plundered her bank accounts, she considered herself comfortably well-off, following the death of her husband Malcolm in 2015.

‘He [Malcolm] was a successful chartered accountant with his own business and owned four other properties and the entire estate passed to his widow.

‘Those properties and the accountancy business were sold for substantial sums and the proceeds paid into Linda’s RBS account.’

Eventually, Ms Grimes sold the bungalow she had shared with her late husband, banking the proceeds with Nationwide, and moved into a Croydon rental property with her son, which he claimed was owned by a friend of his.

‘By June 2022 it was all gone and the account was in overdraft,’ explained Mr Griffiths. 

‘The RBS account was also in a £6,000 overdraft. These accounts were to provide a comfortable existence in her golden years, but now she has a bleak financial outlook with only her pension.’

On July 4, 2022, Ms Grimes and her older son Mark finally discovered the truth at a West Wickham branch of Nationwide.

The prosecutor told the court: ‘When asked what had happened to the money Simon was angry and defensive, claiming the funds were offshore gaining interest.’

On August 8, 2022, Mark reported his brother to the police and he was finally questioned on June 9, 2023.

‘He said since his father had passed away he had a really bad time and was drinking, taking drugs and gambling, going to sleep at 7am and 8am.

‘He said his mother allowed him access to her accounts and he fell into a cycle and lost £40,000 of his own money from the sale of his own matrimonial home.’

Grimes also told police a loan shark debt increased from £15,000 to £40,000 and aggressive collectors had been banging on the bungalow’s front door.

‘I went to Beachy Head to do myself in, but I didn’t,’ said Grimes. ‘I was doing drugs, cocaine, every day.’

Ms Grimes continued giving evidence from behind a screen: ‘Most of the money had been taken out of the bank without my knowledge. Certain things happened and there was nothing in the bank.

‘The way to pay the mortgage off was to sell the bungalow and move. I liked it, but there were too many sad memories there.

‘The idea was to buy another property, but that did not happen as most of the money had been taken from the bank without my knowledge.

‘It was supposed to be hidden away and not touched.’

Grimes’ defence lawyer suggested his brother Mark is an ‘intimidating’ individual, describing him as a ‘money-orientated successful businessman.’

His defence team also produced bank records, which they suggest proves Ms Grimes was capable of making online and international money transfers, which she denies.

The trial continues. 

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