A FORMER finance officer from St Albans who duped his parents and left them with £100,000 of debt has been sentenced at St Albans crown court.

Alan Hughes tricked his mother and father into re-mortgaging their home in Cherry Tree Avenue, London Colney, twice and used the money to fund a gambling habit.

The con came to light following an investigation into his assets after he was jailed for 34 months earlier in the year at the crown court for stealing £325,000 from his employer.

He took the money between 2011 and 2012 while working at a company and used it for gambling.

The investigation revealed that in 2008 he had persuaded his parents Alan and Pamela to remortgage their home to the value of £50,000, and lied that he needed the cash for a “business opportunity”, but in fact used it to gamble and make repayments.

The 44-year-old then told his parents that he wanted them to transfer the mortgage to another provider for a better deal, but a second mortgage to the same value was actually obtained.

On Friday, Hughes was jailed for 44 months for two charges of making a false representation, while the court heard his parents had been saddled with debt.

Prosecuting, David Chrimes said the parents had spent their lives working to pay off their mortgage and hoped for a comfortable retirement, but now faced years of mortgage repayments because of the son they had trusted.

But the court heard that when Hughes is eventually released from prison they will still allow him to return to the family home and support him.