A COUPLE will today discover if they will be jailed for fleecing elderly and vulnerable people out of thousands of pounds which they paid out to plan their own funerals.

Funeral directors Gary Trevett and Fiona Langdown will be sentenced today at Winchester Crown Court for conning their victims into parting with almost £23,000 to take care of arrangements once they had gone – sparing loved ones the heartache.

Their sentencing comes as the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) condemned the pair for taking “advantage” of their elderly clients and urged those worried about their plans to get in touch direct with the funeral plan provider.

As exclusively reported in the Daily Echo, Southampton Crown Court heard how Trevett and his now estranged wife, Langdown, embarked on a cruel con to prop up their failing business.

When trusting customers, most of whom were frail and elderly, handed over their hard saved cash, they thought they were paying into a funeral trust, which would keep their money safe until they died, and it would be used to pay for their funeral.

But instead the pair pocketed the money in a bid to save their business. Their con was only uncovered when the company folded and a former employee took over.

Principal fraudster Trevett, 54, of Canberra Towers, Weston, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud.

Daily Echo:

Gary Trevett

His eldest victim was 89-year-old Joe De Cicco, who was suffering from dementia, and whose son Frank handed over £3,400 to pay for his funeral plan.

Langdown, 53, of Wingate Drive, Southampton, was found guilty by a jury of defrauding four victims and handling the stolen cash of another three.

The revelations sparked concern among many former customers, worried that they may have been a victim to the pair but unaware.

However, an NAFD spokesperson said: “The NAFD is extremely sad to hear that these elderly clients have been taken advantage of in this manner.

“Such incidents are extremely rare within the profession but it is always extremely disappointing when a firm acts in such stark contrast to the high standards of ethics and service that membership of our association requires.”

She added that Langdown and Trevett Independent Funeral Directors was a member firm of the NAFD but the membership was cancelled by the association at the end of 2010.