Spared jail: Carer who took £20,000 from OAP
ACARER who stole £20,000 from the mother of former Radio 1 DJs Andy and Liz Kershaw has been spared jail.
Claire Davis, of Denehurst Road, Rochdale, made a series of ‘significant unaccountable withdrawals’ from Eileen Pickup’s bank account over a 17-month period when she was living alone in Whitworth.
Prosecutor Stephen Parker told Burnley Crown Court how Davis was the only person to have access to Mrs Pickup’s bank account and the 84-yearold victim viewed her as her ‘main carer who she absolutely trusted and treated her like a daughter’.
Mr Parker said: “She acted as a companion for her, drove her around, took her to hospital appointments, went on days out and had lunches, the cost of which was funded by Mrs Pickup out of her bank account.”
The court heard how the bulk of Davis’s offending started from July 2016 after Mrs Pickup received a £72,000 payment into her bank account from an equity release scheme.
Mr Parker said the ‘finger of suspicion fell firmly on the defendant’ after Mrs Pickup’s family raised concerns following a meeting with Lancashire County Council care staff in April 2017 regarding care payment arrears.
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Pickup said: “It’s completely floored me.
“Not just the money but that I treated her like a daughter and she could do this to me. I don’t trust people now.
“I have definitely suffered with stress from everything that has happened.
“I have been so upset by what has happened and I’m worried that she may do it again.”
Mr Parker said Davis ‘doesn’t appear to be in a position to discharge the monies owed’.
Rachel Woods, defending, said debt-struggling Davis had ‘succumbed to financial temptation’ and is ‘very thoroughly ashamed of her behaviour’.
She told the court: “She accepts that she seized the opportunity to help herself to finances she was clearly not entitled to.
“She was not committing it to fund any lavish lifestyle. She was trying to maintain a very modest lifestyle.
“There were a number of debts. She still has rent arrears and other debts and is doing her best to repay. There is genuine and deep remorse but it’s no doubt little crumb of comfort to the complainant and her family.”
Davis is now employed by the NHS.
Ms Woods said Davis’s actions were ‘not fraudulent from the outset’.
Davis, 45, pleaded guilty to theft and was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid work, a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a three-month curfew.
Recorder Tom Gilbart said Davis had come ‘perilously close’ to prison.
He said; “What you did was mean-spirited, selfish and cruel.
“You took the trust invested in you and took advantage causing distress and concern for her and her family.”