A MAN is due to appear in an English court tomorrow morning to be sentenced after admitting to secretly stealing an ATM card from his wife to take money from his brother-in-law, every week for nearly six years – even after he had moved out after he and his wife split up.

Bernard Young pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud by false representation at previous hearings of Liverpool Crown Court.

47-year-old Young, of no fixed address, had stolen over £30,000 – his brother-in-law’s entire life savings – over the years he had carried out the act.

The brother-in-law, who is aged 68 and lives alone, had included Young’s wife as a signatory on his bank account so that she could take out money on his behalf and do his weekly shopping.

Knowing how much money would be taken out on a weekly basis – almost £100 – Young began stealing the ATM card from his wife’s handbag on a weekly basis and making covert withdrawals from an ATM card near their home.

The couple split up in 2009, but unbeknownst to his former wife, Young kept a key to their house and continued the scheme for another three years – entering the house, taking the ATM card, going to the ATM, withdrawing the cash, and returning the card.

On some occasions he entered the house while his ex-wife was asleep with her handbag in her bedroom, meaning Young had to enter the room to get the card.

This had led to the woman having regular nightmares, believing she had seen a figure of some sort in the room with her.

The scheme only came to light when the woman went to an ATM to make her usual withdrawal and was told there was insufficient funds in the account.

It later emerged that Young had spent £20,000 of his brother-in-law’s cash buying and refurbishing a barge, where he was found living in Wigan when he was arrested over the scheme.

Police have seized the barge pending court proceedings, hoping to sell it off and recoup some of the stolen money.