Elderly couple's 'friend' jailed for £900k fraud

Susan Bruland was sentenced to five years in prison for two counts of fraud by abuse of position

A woman who defrauded an elderly couple out of more than £900,000 has been jailed.

Susan Bruland, 57, from Banbury, was a family friend and became trusted as the couple's power of attorney, but she transferred money from their bank accounts for her own personal use.

She was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court to five years in prison for two counts of fraud by abuse of position after pleading guilty last month.

Det Insp Duncan Wynn, head of Thames Valley Police's central fraud unit, said Bruland demonstrated a "complete disregard for the position of trust she had been placed in" and "neglected the responsibility she held to act in the best interest of the victims".

He said she had offered "little remorse or explanation for her actions".

Bruland, who had her own bookkeeping business, started transferring large amounts of money from the couple's joint account in July 2022, and by December it was virtually empty.

She began opening bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, investing £150,000 in cryptocurrency, and transferred more money from one of the couple's accounts between April 2023 and June 2023.

'Accounts ran dry'

Her account was then closed by the bank due to fraud concerns. She was arrested in January 2024.

Det Insp Duncan Wynn said the investigation began because of the "unusually large transactions" from the bank accounts of the elderly victims.

He said: "What quickly became clear was that Bruland was using the funds within the victims' accounts to fund her own lifestyle and business transactions.

"Once the accounts ran dry, she was then able to continue this conduct by liquidating a number of the victims' assets, including shares they held, again using them for her own benefit.

"She neglected to meet the cost of the care needs of the victims, leaving a care home being owed a substantial sum of money.

"In total Bruland took over £900,000 from two elderly vulnerable people she was given responsibility to act for."