Woman defrauded elderly aunt out of £300,000 to build gym in former church

A woman who conned her elderly aunt out of more than £300,000 to help build a state-of-the-art gym has been jailed for over two years.

Margaret Cassidy swindled the cash from 89-year-old Elizabeth Murphy in just over a year.

The 51-year-old used most of the money to convert the disused former St Kenneth’s Church in Linthouse in Glasgow into the modern Sanctuary Gym.

Mrs Murphy was unaware her money had been used to set up the fitness hub, as well as Cassidy spending on designer suits, getting her eyebrows done and also gambling at the casino.

Cassidy was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court of defrauding her aunt out of a total of £317,475 between December 2020 and January 2022.

Sheriff Andrew McIntyre told her at the sentencing: “The jury found you guilty of defrauding your vulnerable elderly aunt of a very substantial sum of money.

“Your conduct was audacious and motivated by your personal financial gain.

“I am in no doubt custody will reflect the gravity and scale of your offending and will deter others from such conduct in future.”

The trial heard Mrs Murphy inherited the money after her husband died in 2019.

Niece Cassidy soon began taking advantage of the unwitting pensioner.

She initially used her cash to buy yoga pants costing £136.

Cassidy went on to transfer £24,000 from Mrs Murphy’s bank account to purchase expensive fitness equipment.

A large sum of the cash was then used to transform the former Victorian C-listed church into a gym.

Advertising at the time boasted how it hoped to sign up 600 members with personal trainers on site and one-to-one coaching.

A total of £164,000 bankrolled extensive renovations and to set up the Sanctuary Gym owned by Cassidy.

It also emerged that a further £101,000 was paid into Cassidy’s account.

The spending by the con-woman included almost £800 at the casino at Glasgow’s Corinthian, £2,200 for artificial grass fitted at her business partner’s home, £1,300 at designer tailors Forbes and a £2,400 council tax bill being paid.

She also put down a deposit to have her eyebrows tattooed – but ended up not going through with the cosmetic work.

Cassidy even pretended to be a legal secretary to help scam £90,000 of gym equipment from a fitness company.

A bogus email was sent pretending to be from the law firm, claiming funds would be sent for the goods.

The equipment was then delivered in good faith, but the company were never paid.

Cassidy was eventually caught in 2022 when her aunt visited her bank.

Mrs Murphy discovered a large amount of cash had gone, and she confronted her niece.

In a police statement, the pensioner said: “Margaret admitted and apologised – she said she was in bother and would pay it back. I have not heard anything since.

“I am in shock. I trusted her to deal with things at the bank, but I never gave her permission to get money.”

“She should not be walking about – she should be in jail.”

The pensioner only got back just over £4,000 of her cash.

Jurors heard Mrs Murphy had since died, so her statements were crucial in securing justice.

Cassidy maintained she had not conned her aunt.

Fiscal Michael Cunningham put it her that she used Mrs Murphy’s bank account and money to set the gym up and buy other items without her aunt’s permission or knowledge.

Cassidy stated: “Not correct.”

Mr Cunningham: “You took advantage of your aunt?”

She replied: “No.”

In his closing speech, Mr Cunningham spoke of Cassidy even pretending to be Mrs Murphy during phone calls in connection with payments to be made.

He added this was “the lengths that she is prepared to go to get what she wanted”.

He told jurors: “Elizabeth Murphy got money when her husband passed away.

“I suggest Margaret Cassidy was aware of this and reappeared in her life around this time.

“She took advantage of her and used her money for her own gain.

“She used money to open Sanctuary Gym, do up her business partner’s house, buy gifts and make other purchases along the way.

“All of this, she appeared to keep secret from Elizabeth Murphy.”

Cassidy was also found guilty of defrauding the fitness company of the £90,000 gym equipment.

John Kilcoyne, defending, told the sentencing that his client maintains her innocence and that she had permission from Mrs Murphy to take the money.