Woman swindled man, 79, in her care out of £7,000

AWOMAN swindled an elderly man who she was meant to be looking after out of thousands of pounds over an 18-month period, a court heard.

Paige James worked as a carer for a company in Pembrokeshire in July 2020 when she was asked to provide care to a 79-year-old man who had recently been discharged from hospital.

The man’s son lived around 200 miles away so a care package was put in place.

James, 30, began to ask the man for money, stating a number of different reasons for needing to get hold of cash quickly.

She said she had been threatened with eviction and that her credit card had been cloned, and even said her position as a carer was in jeopardy because she didn’t have any mode of transport.

At Swansea Crown Court yesterday, prosecution barrister Ieuan Rees said in July 2021 the victim’s son began to notice “some discrepancies” when he was examining a statement from his father’s bank account.

Mr Rees said that eight cheques valuing more than £4,000 had been paid to James and that one of them – for £800 – was reissued, meaning it was actually cashed twice.

The court heard James, who admitted fraud by abuse of position, made a total of £7,094.11 from her victim between July 2020 and January 2022.

Mr Rees told the court that it later transpired that James was addicted to gambling sites and was at one point in debt to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds.

Anthony O’Connell, mitigating, said James was “entirely remorseful and ashamed by her actions”.

He added: “She was gripped by a cocaine addiction and crippling gambling debts. She does not lay the blame at anybody but herself.

“She made a foolish decision.” Mr O’Connell said his client has now been free of drug use, alcohol, and gambling for almost two years.

Judge Geraint Walters addressed James, of Howard Close, Milford Haven, in court and said: “All of us have relatives that are elderly and all of us would regard anyone who is scamming them a person capable of committing the meanest of offences. You began this by asking him to borrow money.

“Your victim was generous enough to allow you access to some of it. You helped yourself to more.”

James was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.

She must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and complete a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

She was also ordered to pay back the £7,094.11 to her victim in instalments of £200 per month.