A greedy con artist who drove to court in a Mercedes bought at the expense of her elderly victims’ hard-working lives swapped it for a seat in a prison van taking her to jail.
Hayley Philpot, 29, spent Berwyn and Keith Bennett’s entire life savings on the luxury car and the kind of fancy dinners and smart clothes the hard-working couple had denied themselves all their lives to save money for their old age.
Ms. Bennett, now 80 and using a walker to get around, had served the community as a nurse while her husband was an electrical engineer.
But Philpot, a mother of two, stole more than $100,000 from them and shamelessly profited from it to enrich herself with luxury goods.
On Tuesday, the disgraced estate agent drove to Victoria County Court in her stolen car, believing she would be returning home in it later that morning.
Instead, she was taken to jail crying, without even a toothbrush, and handed her car keys to lawyer Sai Ranjit before being handcuffed.
Ms Bennett was in court to see Philpot finally jailed.
She and her husband, who suffers from dementia, were left destitute by the baby-faced scammer and are still fighting to recover more than $70,000.
Hayley Philpot was described as a ruthless, greedy and manipulative con artist.
Berwyn Bennett attended court on Tuesday to see Hayley Philpot jailed
Philpot had gone to court seeking an adjournment of the matter, telling the court he was still trying to secure a loan to pay his victims.
But County Court Judge Pradeep Tiwana was not prepared to listen to any more of the fraudster’s repeated lies.
Philpot was sentenced in Melbourne Magistrates Court in July to three months in jail after pleading guilty to robbery.
She immediately appealed the decision to Judge Tiwana, who could also increase her sentence to a maximum of five years.
And the judge made clear that he found Philpot’s sentence in the lower court to have been “lenient.”
A letter written by Philpot to his victims after lodging his appeal reinforced the judge’s intentions to address his sentence, with a view to potentially extending his prison time.
In the letter, Philpot attempted to trick the couple once again by claiming that he wanted them to be part of his new family.
It came with a demand that the couple ask authorities to drop the charges even though she had already pleaded guilty to them.
“It is outrageous that such a letter was written,” Judge Tiwana said.
“You need to think a little about where this appeal is going,” he warned Philpot’s lawyer, who quickly walked to the back of the court to address his client in the dock.
The appeal was dropped and Philpot was immediately transferred to the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, where she would rub shoulders with underworld figures such as gangland matriarch Judy Moran and “Black Widow” serial killer Robyn Lindholm.
The court heard Philpot was working as an agent at Savoy Real Estate Yarra Glen, northeast of Melbourne, when he attacked his victim in 2019.
Philpot, from Flemington, helped sell the couple’s home before helping them move into a care home.
But she was given power of attorney for Ms Bennett and used it to divert the couple’s money into her own accounts.
Philpot made 66 transactions between June 2020 and August 2021, spending $17,000 on the Mercedes.
She also splurged thousands of dollars at various hair and beauty salons and boutiques, high-end fashion stores Zara, JB Hi-Fi, Kmart, Bunnings, Kookai and Nando’s meals.
Hayley Philpot thought her two young children would keep her out of jail, but she was wrong
Philpot and Mrs Bennett in happier times. The elderly retired nurse thought she had found a friend in Philpot.
When Ms Bennett discovered the thefts, Philpot repeatedly claimed she had been authorised to do so.
In an interview record provided to police and obtained by A current issuePhilpot was seen telling lie after lie.
“I didn’t take anything that she wouldn’t have agreed to,” he told police.
‘Excuse me, I didn’t think it was bad, because we had arranged everything so that I could make the payments back.
“It wasn’t like I went behind her back and said ‘I’m going to rob this old lady.'”
Crown prosecutor Peter Pickering told the court the mother-of-two was motivated by greed and should be jailed for much longer than the sentence imposed on her by the magistrates’ court.
Mr Pickering said Philpot told her victims she had stolen $40,000 to save them from a non-existent Centrelink investigation which she claimed would result in their pensions being cancelled.
The prosecutor said that because of the combination of Philpot’s letter and the “terrible breach of trust”, she deserved more time behind bars.
Judge Tiwana agreed.
“This was a particularly cruel attack on a very vulnerable person,” he said.
‘She knew that this victim in her 80s was struggling with an ailing husband who was in the early stages of dementia.
‘They trusted her. It is a terrible breach of trust, without any trace of conscience.
‘Every time she accepted money she had the opportunity to stop and reflect on what she was doing, but she continued.
“I must say it was a lenient sentence and she was very lucky to get three months.”
Outside court, Ms Bennett said that while she was glad the criminal proceedings were over, she faced an uphill battle to recover the money owed.
“She was clever. She was very smart and I’m not that smart,” he said.
Hayley Philpot tried to trick people out of trouble until the bitter end.
Berwyn and Keith Bennett were tricked by a cunning, baby-faced con artist.
Ms Bennett said the ordeal had led to her spending time in hospital with a suspected heart attack.
“To be honest, I’m not a person who likes to lock people up, but I’m glad she’s already received her punishment,” she said.
“It has to serve a purpose. It can’t just go on like this over and over again.”
Mrs Bennet said she would have liked to see Philpot forced to serve more time in prison.
She added: “I think he should have gotten four or five (months)… after what he did to me and my husband.”