Man stole ‘every penny’ from grandparents forcing them to food banks

A grandson has been jailed after intimidating and fleecing his elderly grandparents, leaving them with no money to put food on the table or heat their home.

Ashley Partington, 33, was abusive, aggressive and threatened his grandparents with knives and hammers to extract money from them, a court heard.

He took around £5,000 from their State pensions and small private pension, and left the desperate couple going to food banks to get something to eat.

Earlier this week, Judge Robert Linford jailed Partington for 30 months after he admitted two counts of controlling and coercive behavior and driving while banned.

The judge said Partington embarked on ‘astonishingly appalling conduct’ for around three years after they took him in, and he repaid that by ‘frightening and attacking them, taking their money and selling their things’.

‘You took every penny they had, causing them to go to a foodbank to get something to eat. You caused them untold misery. You left them in dire financial circumstances,’ he said.

Prosecutor Nick Lewin told Plymouth Crown Court: ‘They were unable to put food on the table or heat their own home.’

He said 33-year-old Partington also sold anything of value – personal items and kitchen equipment – to feed his addictions.

The father of one also used their Motability car and racked up debts from speeding tickets he had accrued in their name – even though he was disqualified because of a bad driving record.

The couple – aged 85 and 78 – said in a victim personal statement to the court that Partington had moved into their front room but refused to leave and stayed with them for around 30 months.

They said he began asking for small amounts of money, but his demands got bigger and bigger in time.

He would lie to them, saying the police had imposed an £80 fine and he would be sent to jail. They went to a Plymouth police station to give him the cash and later found out he used it to go to a nightclub.

And they would ask him to pay for electricity on the stick, but he would again lie that he had done it.

Their power would go out the next day at their flat in the city, and Partington would have pocketed the money.

His grandfather said they could hardly sleep because of the threats he made against them, and the pensioner suffered two heart attacks in 2024 and 2025, and only survived the second one because a paramedic crew was around the corner.

He said his wife hid the accounts because they would argue about what was happening, and said ‘it was tearing us apart’.

Since Partington, of Pier Street, Plymouth, has been on remand in jail, they now they have money to buy food and heat and to buy some furniture for their home.

Partington’s lawyer said the defendant can see how his grandparents felt scared and threatened by him and his impact on them.

Miss Francesca Whebell said: ‘These two people cared very much for him for the entirety of his life. He was in the grip of significant addictions.’

‘He wants to be the person that he used to be known as before,,’ she added.

The judge also banned him from driving for four years and imposed a five-year restraining order, which stops him from contacting his grandparents.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.

For more stories like this, check our news page.