Man who stole from mother could walk free

A man who stole £53,000 from his adoptive mother could be spared jail because of his tangled personal life, a judge has said.

The victim was the sister of Mark Hadley's biological mother, whom he has never met since birth.

The possibility of them coming into contact led to him being barred from his grandmother's funeral, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

He was due to be sentenced yesterday and was facing a prison term, but a judge said he wanted more information about his psychological state after hearing of his difficulties coming to terms with his complicated family life.

The 32-year-old squandered some of the stolen cash on a string of expensive mountain bikes and remote-controlled cars before telling detectives: "I got carried away."

Police have found no trace of the missing money other than the collection of ten expensive mountain bikes and a similar number of remote-controlled cars bought by him, prosecutor Miss Helena Miller told the court.

Hadley, from Wood Green Road, Wednesbury, stole from his 66-year-old adoptive mother Doris after taking her bank card and pin number from a safe at the family's Darlaston home, the court was told.

She inherited the estate of her husband after his death in 2008 and the following year gave Hadley two cheques totalling £23,000 for "safe-keeping" which were cashed.

Around £30,000 was systematically syphoned through regular withdrawals of around £500-a-time at cash machines between August 2008 and March this year. This brought the total amount stolen to £53,410.

Miss Wendy Miller, defending, revealed that he had been adopted at the age of two by the sister of his birth mother and had never met his biological parents.

Hadley, who pleaded guilty to theft at an earlier hearing, was told by Recorder Anthony Lowe he would adjourn the case until October 14.

"You took a huge amount of money from your adoptive mother and it is difficult to see why this should not result in an immediate custodial sentence," he said.

"But I have heard about your birth mother, what has happened since and your depression.

"These are issues that may affect the outcome and I cannot, in all conscience, deal with you without more information about them."