Thief who stole almost £1m from elderly man refused privy council hearing

Deemster found application had 'simply no chance of success'

A man who stole almost £1million from an elderly care home resident has been refused permission to appeal his prison sentence at the highest level.

Garry Richard Vernon had applied to have his case heard by the privy council after a previous appeal against his nine-year custodial term failed.

In April 2023, a jury found Vernon guilty of stealing £997,000 from his wife's grandfather between 2010 and 2013, with the thefts only coming to light after the victim's death.

He initially appealed against his nine-year prison sentence in November that year, arguing it was 'manifestly excessive', but the deemsters who oversaw that hearing endorsed the use of a lengthy sentence to deter others.

Vernon applied to have his case heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; the final court of appeal for the crown dependencies.

In hearing his application, the High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man reiterated that the sentence was 'entirely justified', and that there is 'simply no chance of any appeal to the JCPC being successful at all'.

In the judgment, the deemsters presiding over the hearing also found the application ignored the effect of the theft on the family of the victim.

Refusing the application, the deemsters ruled the application is out of time, made no arguable point of law of general public importance, and that it was clear there was no miscarriage of justice, let alone a serious one.

They added: "the applicant's repeated submissions have ignored the aggravating factors and have sought to apply a mathematical formula to what was an extremely serious abuse of trust of a very elderly man."