A FORMER Westhoughton mayor has been convicted of fraudulently using his ailing father’s details to obtain thousands of pounds in loans.

At Bolton Crown Court a jury of seven women and five men unanimously found James Gilfillan guilty of two counts of fraud.

However, the jury was unable to decide whether 55-year-old Gilfillan also stole £23,500 from his 82-year-old father and used his bank card in connection with fraud.

The crown prosecution service will now consider whether it is in the public interest to seek a retrial over the alleged theft.

During a six-day trial, the court heard how Gilfillan took control of his dad’s finances as widower Mr Gilfillan Snr’s health deteriorated and he moved firstly to sheltered housing and then to St Catherine’s nursing home in Horwich.

But Gilfillan’s brothers, David and Andrew, became suspicious when the former mayor moved to Howden, Goole, in 2013 and refused to allow his siblings access to their father’s accounts, even though they still lived locally.

In court the prosecution alleged that Gilfillan had stolen £23,500 from the pensioner over a two-year period, spending the cash on purchases including alcohol, computer games and items from lingerie retailer Ann Summers.

Money in his father’s bank account was also used to contribute to the wedding expenses of Gilfillan’s step-daughter, fund an all-expenses paid holiday to Edinburgh for Gilfillan and his wife Kathy and buy him a new car.

Gilfillan claimed in court that his father had given him the money and he had also used the account for purchases and then paid the pensioner back in cash.

The jury could not decide whether he had stolen the money, but concluded that Gilfillan had fraudulently obtained seven loans, totalling £2,252 from payday lender Wonga and a £7,000 TSB loan using his dad’s bank account and details.

Gilfillan, who had denied all charges, stood emotionless in the dock as the jury returned their guilty verdicts.

He was granted bail and will return to court on May 27. At that stage he will either be sentenced or a date will be set for a further trial on the outstanding charges.

Speaking after the trial, Gilfillan’s brothers, David, aged 53, from Horwich and Andrew, aged 44, from Little Hulton, said they were satisfied with the jury’s verdicts, but would like to see the whole case concluded.

Their father died in January, but the brothers say their parents were very honest people and would have agreed with the conviction.

“I have no argument with my brother, but he has done wrong,” said David Gilfillan.

“It’s nothing to do with the money really – it is about what he has done. It is a moral thing.

“Mum and dad brought us up to be morally right.

“The money has gone but it was never about money. If he (their brother) had come to us and said ‘I’m in dire straits, can you help me?’ we’d have said yes.”

However, Andrew Gilfillan said the fraud has destroyed his relationship with his eldest brother.

“From the moment I found out what he had done, I didn’t have a brother. I have disowned him,” he said.

David Gilfillan said he still wants to understand why his brother acted as he did.

“To me, personally, he is still flesh and blood. But unless there is an explanation I don’t want to see him,” he said.

James Gilfillan, who was mayor of Westhoughton in 2007, is not the only member of his household to be convicted of fraud.

In October, 2012 his former wife, Kathy was jailed for 20 months after committing fraud and theft against her employers, software firm Venturonet.

The firm closed due to the £132,000 she swindled out of them, but she was ordered to pay back just £1 after a court found she had no assets.

The conviction was her second for dishonesty. In 1995 she was given a 12-month prison sentence for stealing £53,000 from Bolton Health Authority, where she worked in accounts.