The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Hospital care worker jailed for thefts from elderly patients
Ninewells: Young woman admits stealing £150 from bedsides in Ward 5
A hospital worker who repeatedly stole cash from the bedsides of vulnerable elderly patients has been jailed.
Shannon Mills was jailed after she admitted three theft charges committed at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Mills, who once made headlines after racking up a £21,000 phone bill on holiday in Turkey, worked in Ward 5, a unit with 24 beds for the elderly suffering from illnesses including Parkinson’s, dementia and pneumonia.
Mills’ thefts only totalled £150 over a year but a sheriff told her she had “breached the trust of people who are in the most vulnerable of situations”.
Depute fiscal Claire Rowan told Dundee Sheriff Court the thefts took place while Mills was employed by NHS Tayside as a healthcare assistant and that none of the cash was recovered.
Mills, 21, of Inveresk Gardens, Dundee, pleaded guilty to three charges of theft committed between June 2016 and July 2017.
Her pleas of not guilty to five other charges of theft from patients in Ward 5 were accepted by the Crown.
Solicitor advocate Kris Gilmartin, defending, said it was “an extremely serious matter” and added that Mills had saved up money to repay the total. He said she has no previous convictions and her behaviour had come as a shock to her family.
Mr Gilmartin added: “She has no previous convictions and is of good character, she has never been close to anything like this and her normal contact with the hospital was entirely caring for other people.”
He added that the only explanation he could offer as to why she committed the crimes was that her sister had been extremely ill in hospital at the time of the offences and there was grave concern that she would not survive.
Mr Gilmartin said the sisters were very close and the stress and concern had affected her.
Sheriff George Way jailed Mills for five months and said he could not see how that stress had caused Mills to steal from vulnerable people who relied on the integrity of care professionals.
He said: “This was not an impulse, you did it three times over the space of a year.
“You breached the trust of people who are in the most vulnerable of situations.
“They are in hospital, they are worried about their families and you stole from them. I would be failing in my duty not to impose the most serious penalty to reflect that.”