Former STV host jailed for stealing £120,000 from her mother

Matthews previously presented programmes on STV and Forth One and wrote a weekly column for the Edinburgh Evening News.

During her trial, the court heard that Matthews, of Edinburgh, had told family members her mother’s estate was valued at £36,000.

However, that was queried by her sister, who applied to the bank for copies of her mother’s financial statements.

These showed ATM withdrawals had substantially increased between September 2019 and September 2021, after Janice Matthews was admitted to hospital.

A police investigation found Hayley Matthews’ spending included PayPal transactions totalling £42,000, ATM withdrawals of £38,000, Amazon purchases worth £13,000, a Mulberry handbag costing £1,300, and £5,500 of purchases from the White Company.

The bank statements also showed spending at retailers including Harvey Nichols, Kurt Geiger and Molton Brown.