{"id":321191,"date":"2024-05-29T20:23:50","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T01:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=321191"},"modified":"2024-05-30T10:15:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T15:15:18","slug":"gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambler Faces Prison for Stealing from ‘Thunderbirds’ Writer-Director"},"content":{"rendered":"

A care provider in the UK who prosecutors claim stole \u00a375K (US$95K) from an Emmy Award-winning writer and director to feed his addiction to lottery tickets has failed to have his guilty plea vacated.<\/p>\n

\"Alan
Allan John Beacham, top left, has pleaded guilty to stealing from Emmy award-winner Alan Patillo, bottom left, who died in 2020. Patillo was a writer and director for kids\u2019 marionette action show “Thunderbirds,” right. (Image: Casino.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Allan John Beacham, 66, pleaded guilty in January to stealing from the late Alan Patillo, to whom he was a full-time care provider.<\/p>\n

Patillo was a writer and director for the 1960s kids\u2019 TV show “Thunderbirds,” as well as its predecessors, “Supercar,” “Fireball XL5,” and “Stingray.”<\/p>\n

\n

“Thunderbirds” is remembered for pioneering electronic marionette puppetry and was famously parodied by “South Park” creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, in “Team America: World Police.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Later, Patillo was the sound editor for Nicholas Roeg\u2019s counterculture classic, “Performance,” which starred Mick Jagger. He was also the sound editor on Pink Floyd\u2019s 1982 surrealist musical, “The Wall.”<\/p>\n

Patillo won his Emmy for his work on the epic 1979 anti-war television movie “All Quiet on the Western Front.”<\/p>\n

First Trial Abandoned<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Patillo was suffering from stage-five Parkinson\u2019s disease and was immobile and blind when Beacham allegedly began to use the writer\u2019s finances as his personal piggy bank.<\/p>\n

During a trial last June, the court heard that Beacham, already living in a house purchased for him by Patillo, siphoned the money from the writer\u2019s bank accounts between Jan. 1, 2017, and June 1, 2019.<\/p>\n

Patillo died in January 2020, at age 90.<\/p>\n

Beacham initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but his first trial was halted after a series of dramatic disruptions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These included the defendant claiming during one hearing that he was too ill to continue before driving himself 150 miles back home. At a later hearing, he collapsed in the dock after listening to prosecution evidence.<\/p>\n

Judge Loses Patience <\/strong><\/h2>\n

On the first day of his second trial In January, Beacham pleaded guilty to theft. But when he appeared for his sentencing hearing in March, he asked to withdraw the plea.<\/p>\n

His lawyer later requested for the judge to adjourn the case so that Beacham could obtain a medical statement from his doctor.<\/p>\n

But Judge Adam Feest in Winchester Crown Court had heard enough.<\/p>\n

The basis is not that the defendant was poorly advised or had any pressure put on him,\u201d said Feest. “In my judgment, this application should be refused. The defendant has had ample time to obtain medical evidence. Even if this was obtained, he still entered a voluntary guilty plea.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Feest set a new sentencing hearing for June 21 and warned the defendant that he will likely be facing a prison sentence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A care provider in the UK who prosecutors claim stole \u00a375K (US$95K) from an Emmy Award-winning writer and director to feed his addiction to lottery tickets has failed to have his guilty plea vacated. Allan John Beacham, 66, pleaded guilty in January to stealing from the late Alan Patillo, to whom he was a full-time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":321192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13699],"tags":[91091,91092,91093],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGambler Faces Prison for Stealing from Thunderbirds Writer-Director<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Allan John Beacham will be sentenced for stealing $95K from late Thunderbirds writer and director Alan Patillo on June 21.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gambler Faces Prison for Stealing from Thunderbirds Writer-Director\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Allan John Beacham will be sentenced for stealing $95K from late Thunderbirds writer and director Alan Patillo on June 21.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-30T01:23:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-30T15:15:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/thunder.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1023\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/\",\"name\":\"Gambler Faces Prison for Stealing from Thunderbirds Writer-Director\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/thunder.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-30T01:23:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-30T15:15:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Allan John Beacham will be sentenced for stealing $95K from late Thunderbirds writer and director Alan Patillo on June 21.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gambler-faces-prison-for-stealing-from-thunderbirds-writer-director\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/thunder.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/thunder.jpg\",\"width\":1023,\"height\":670,\"caption\":\"Allan John Beacham, top left, has pleaded guilty to stealing from Emmy award-winner Alan Patillo, bottom left, who died in 2020. 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