Frances Connolly, 95, had her entire life savings of £100,770 emptied from her Halifax bank account after her middle daughter took over her finances – the bank has said it acted appropriately
A 95-year-old gran’s life savings have been shockingly drained from her Halifax account, sparking family despair. Frances Connolly, spent several months of 2021 under the watchful eye of her daughter Sheila.
The frail great-gran, who had previously lived with other daughter Pat Kavanagh, following her divorce, moved back home with with Sheila in April the same year, Liverpool Echo reports.
Within a matter of weeks, Sheila chaperoned Frances to the Yorkshire Building Society, where she cashed out her entire stash of £100,770 and put it into a fresh Halifax account she’d set up.
“Vulnerable” Frances was battling blindness, hearing loss, and dementia when she signed over access to her funds to Sheila, Pat says.
A Halifax spokesperson has responded to Pat’s concerns saying it has “a great deal of sympathy” for Frances but insisted they’d done everything by the book, the
Bank slips show Frances’ funds nosedived to just £31 in the first three months of her authorising Sheila’s access. Statements seen by the Echo, list 32 withdrawals from April to July – including a hefty £80,000 wired to Frances’ ex-husband’s account.
On April 29, a whopping £10,000 mysteriously made its way into Sheila’s account, followed by a spree of cash withdrawals to the tune of either £100 or £300 from ATMs scattered around Liverpool City Centre, Maghull, and Allerton. Some days saw a jaw-dropping £900 taken out.
Pat, 65, commented: “It feels like a grenade has been thrown in the middle of our family, and none of us saw it coming, and it just broke everything up. Me and my husband have had no retirement. All our plans came to a halt.”
She gave a heart-wrenching account of her mother’s plight, revealing: “My mother lost her home, access to finances, her jewellery went missing. She was left with just six pence in her purse on July 22, the day she returned to my home.”
The Woolton resident called Merseyside Police who admitted Sheila dying in October 2024, left them with an impossible task of recovering the £100k.
The Financial Ombudsman Service concluded Halifax wasn’t to blame as Frances gave her middle daughter the green light to manage her bank account.
Yet despite this verdict, Pat is adamant that the bank failed to prevent her “confused” mum ‘signing her life away’, particularly with the cash grabs that followed.
Halifax commented: “We found that our staff conducted the right due diligence to ensure Mrs Connolly’s withdrawals were not made without her authorisation.”
Pat said: “How can you walk into a bank with someone in a wheelchair, who can’t even see, who can’t hear, and say they are capable of signing their life away?
“My mum came to me with six pence. She didn’t even have a pension when she came to us because we had to cancel her card. For two to three weeks I kept her. If she wasn’t in my home, she would have been dead.”
Pat’s world was rocked when her dad Richard passed away in February, only to discover that his bank account had been similarly drained.
She said: “I feel physically sick that this has happened to both of my parents. I feel physically sick.”
The family’s investigation uncovered bank statements showing daily transfers of £500 from Richard’s account. The substantial sum of £185,000 from the sale of their house, their pensions, and savings had all vanished into thin air, leaving the family with no knowledge of where the money went.
The Halifax spokesperson added: “This is a complex case and we have a great deal of sympathy for Mrs Connolly and her family. We have thoroughly investigated the concerns raised by Mrs Kavanagh on a number of occasions, relating to events which took place in 2021, and believe we acted appropriately in handling Mrs Connolly’s accounts. The independent Financial Ombudsman Service also reviewed the case and reached the same conclusion.”