An unemployed father-of-five raided his grandfather 's life savings to feed his drug habit , leaving the 90-year-old with just £8.79 left in his bank account . Morbidly obese Steve Austin , of Croydon , systematically withdrew £2,500 from the account of his grandfather Stanley Taylor . Austin even demanded Mr Taylor , who had brought him up from the age of 12 , give him more cash after the bank was notified by what had happened and gave the 90-year-old a refund . Austin threatened the pensioner that , if he refused to hand over cash , he would not see his great-grandchildren . Steve Austin withdrew almost all of his grandfather 's life savings , leaving him with just £8.79 , Southwark Crown Court heard . Austin even demanded more cash when the bank refunded the 90-year-old 's money . The 39-year-old was jailed for six months after he admitted one charge of fraud . A judge said he had 'abused ' the trust of his family . Southwark Crown Court heard that Mr Taylor 's health has deteriorated since the incident and he was struggling to cope with the break-up of his family caused by Austin 's theft . The court heard that Austin had withdrawn the cash in £100 to £250 amounts between 1 October 2013 and 28 October that year . But Mr Taylor only discovered his life savings had almost disappeared when he went to Orpington town centre with his daughter and a bank statement showed his savings account now contained just £8.79 . Both said the account had contained his life savings , which they thought amounted to £2,560.94 . Tanya Roberts , prosecuting , told the court : ‘ Mr Taylor and his daughter suspected that it was Steve Austin , his grandson , who had taken the money and the reason that was thought was because Mr Austin took money before . ‘ They paid a visit to Mr Austin and he admitted to them he had taken his grandfather ’ s bank card and money and spent it on drugs. ’ Austin then tried to persuade his grandfather not to report him to the police . The bank also organised a refund for the pensioner - creating further problems . Mr Taylor only realised his bank account had been almost emptied when he went to Orpington town centre to get a statement and found that the savings account contained just £8.79 - there had been more than £2,500 . Ms Roberts continued : ‘ Mr Austin attempted to put pressure on his grandfather by asking him to hand over the money as he knew the bank had provided him with a refund. ’ Laurence Imrie , defending Austin , said he turned to drugs after the death of his grandmother in 2012 and had intended to repay the stolen cash . ‘ Mr Austin had been raised by the complainant , his grandfather , from the age of 12 after his parents had separated and his mother had engaged in a new relationship , ' said Mr Imrie . ‘ He was brought up effectively as a son . ' Austin had cared for his grandmother during her illness until her death in 2012 . Mr Recorder Gibson Grenfell QC said Austin had committed a ‘ despicable form ’ of fraud and ‘ abused ’ the trust of his family . He said : ‘ You took , it seems , from your very ill grandfather ’ s bank account with the use of his bank card . He is an old man who is now near 91 , you cleared out the bulk of his life savings . ' The court was told that Austin 's theft had had a ‘ catastrophic ’ effect on his grandfather who suffered a deterioration in health and is struggling to cope with the break-up of the family . ‘ I also read that you have stopped access to his grandchildren and you have , since June 2014 , been asking him for money and threatening him with not seeing his great-grandchildren if he refuses , ’ said the judge . ‘ Your good intentions that you claimed to have had were on any view totally worthless as you had no hope of returning the money. ’ Austin , who walked into the court using two sticks , struggled to remain standing in the dock as he was sentenced and was permitted to sit down part-way through the judge ’ s remarks . He admitted the fraud charge and was also in breach of two suspended sentences at the time of offending for thefts dating back to 2011 and 2012 . Austin was jailed for three months for stealing the cash and three months consecutively for breaching his suspended sentences .
AustinSteve Austin systematically stole £2,500 from his grandfather 's account . He withdrew the 90-year-old pensioner 's life savings to fund his drug habit . Grandfather Stanley Taylor only realised when statement said he had £8.79 . When bank found out what had happened it repaid Mr Taylor the money . Steve Austin demanded even more cash , threatening Mr Taylor that if he refused to pay him he would not be allowed to see his great-grandchildren . The father of five was jailed for six months after admitting charge of fraud .