Court
Thief’s Appeal Rejected
Garry Richard Vernon was jailed for nine years
A man who stole nearly £1m from his wife’s late grandfather has had his appeal against his sentence rejected.
Garry Richard Vernon was jailed for nine years for three offences of theft of a combined £997,068 after being found guilty at trial.
Mr Vernon had appealed his sentence saying it was too high, took no account of inflation, the the Deemster had failed to make sufficient reduction in sentence to reflect the delay in the start of the investigation in 2015 and his trial this earlier this year.
He also argued that Deemster Graeme Cook also gave inadequate credit for his personal mitigation.
However, Judge of Appeal Justice Anthony Cross KC, alongside Deemster Wild and Deemster Smith, agreed with the original sentence passed down, saying it was ‘entirely appropriate given the particular circumstances of the offending’.
They said: ‘Mr Evan Gelling Fargher was a retired gentleman living in a nursing home. He had worked hard all his life farming the land. He had been careful with his money and intended to leave his considerable estate of over £1 million in part to his family. He was a staunch Methodist and he had also bequeathed, charitably, money to his Chapel.
‘This Appellant was married to his granddaughter. Over the course of years he stole from Mr Fargher, his heirs, and others such as the Chapel, to what amounted, in reality, to the product of Mr Fargher’s life’s work. He used his status, his knowledge and his familial links to this vulnerable old man to perpetrate the thefts. We note that the Deemster concluded that Mr Vernon did not “ groom” his victim, nonetheless whilst grooming was found to be absent the extent of his cunning was revealed in the trial.
‘The gravity of his offending is perhaps best reflected in the words of his victims who have not only lost their inheritance, but their family have been driven apart by his actions. The tragedy of this family born of his dishonesty is immeasurable – they are a family torn apart.’
They added that they endorse long sentences as a deterrent to others.
