13 year old cousin stole my bank card while living with me, and spent £8,900 on in-app purchases under 24 hours. I've just won in small claims court and been awarded £6.50 a week.
This goes back to 2024. Cousin and his mother were staying with me after getting kicked out by her husband.
During this time he stole a bank card from a drawer and began spending money from it. The bank app verification was done by sending text message notifications to my phone. He was able to access these via a linked tablet and enter the approval codes.
I don't have my phone during my shift as I'm a prison officer from 6:30am to 8:30pm. During this time I have ZERO access to my phone, email or any electronic devices.
While I was at work he proceeded to nearly empty out my current account. It had £10,000 which had just been transferred into it the week before to pay for roof repairs.
That's hte background and I've managed to handle this well so far by myself. I've just finished in small claims court today and been awarded £6.50 a week. The mother has voluntarily repaid £80 so far.
I did some maths and it's going to take almost 30 years to clear that debt after the interest was added on.
This seems completely fucking ridiculous. Is there any way I can try and get more money out of this? I know she has been deliberately putting off her divorce with her husband to try and keep assets out of my reach. (There's at least £180k in her share of the house and his pension when it sells) I told this to the judge, but they said they can't consider a marital asset at the minute as this man isn't father to the child in question.
Is there anything else I can do?