Mother and daughter jailed for fleecing life savings of woman, 94
A MOTHER and daughter who stole more than £20,000 from a vulnerable 94-year-old resident at a care home where they both worked have been jailed.
Susan Stewart, 49, and Carly Douglas, 28, ripped off their frail victim as she lived out her final days at Sycamore Lodge in Sunderland.
The woman, who lost her life savings to the heartless duo, died before the pair could face justice.
Stewart was employed as general manager of the care home while her daughter, Douglas, worked as a carer.
Over four weeks between June and July 2016, they stole £18,000 from the woman’s account and withdrew almost £3,000 from cashpoints using her card.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Douglas switched £18,000 into her account via an online transfer. Within 48 hours, she moved £6,000 into her mother’s bank account with the reference “Goose”.
Stewart also made 13 cash withdrawals worth £2,991 using the victim’s bank card which she stole from her room between June 23 and July 20, 2016.
The alarm was raised when the pensioner’s bank became suspicious over activity on the account and a security block was triggered.
Douglas phoned the bank three times, on July 21, pretending to be the elderly woman and pleading for the block on the account to be released. But, after failing to answer the security questions, her attempts were unsuccessful. With suspicions mounting and in a desperate bid to cover her tracks, Stewart inputted a series of false entries into the care home’s internal database explaining why cash was withdrawn at the victim’s request. She was arrested in September 2016.
Damage
Stewart admitted theft and transferring criminal property and was jailed for 27 months.
Her daughter, who has a fiveyear-old son, admitted theft, transferring criminal property, and fraud by false representation and was jailed for 30 months.
Sam Faulks, prosecuting, said the care home suffered “reputational damage” because of the offences. Recorder Geoffrey Pritchard told the women, from Sunderland, on Friday: “This is an extremely sad and troubling case that involves a very serious and disturbing breach of trust by both defendants in relation to what was a frail and vulnerable elderly lady who was within their care.”
Linda Wrout, managing director of Sycamore Care Centre, said: “This was an appalling breach of trust which was carried out under the noses of both residents and employees.
“Stewart was a manager who everybody trusted, having been in her role for 12 years, and this meant we were all taken in by her lies and deceit.
“She and her daughter Douglas, have caused enormous distress and upset to everyone who lives and works here.”