Social worker who stole £550,000 from the vulnerable is jailed for seven years

A SOCIAL worker who stole more than £550,000 from vulnerable adults and spent the cash on luxury watches and holidays has been jailed.

Hilary Tideswell, 63, was given a sentence of seven years and nine months at Leeds Crown Court, according to the Crown

Prosecution Service (CPS), which described it as an “appalling abuse of trust”.

The CPS said that Tideswell was asked to assess vulnerable pensioner Constance Lupton, 81, but should have stopped contact with her when she found she had £500,000 in savings and a house.

Instead, the Bradford Community Council care worker took steps to obtain power of attorney over Mrs Lupton’s affairs without her knowing, giving her full access to her assets. According to the CPS, Tideswell started spending this money on Rolex watches and holidays, sharing the cash with husband David Tideswell, 66, and son, Neil Moorhouse, 42.

She then assessed another man, Alexander Ritchie, determining that he should not return home.

When Mr Ritchie died shortly after, Tideswell used money she had taken from Mrs Lupton to pay for his funeral before forging a will, obtaining probate and transferring £27,372 of his cash into her own account.

Some of the profits of this house sale were spent on a plot of land, some was used to pay off Tideswell’s debt and the rest was squandered, the CPS said.

Tideswell, of Wakefield Road, Halifax, pleaded guilty to fraud offences and her husband and son were found guilty after a trial of converting criminal property.

David Tideswell, of Regent Road, Kirkheaton, Huddersfield, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and ordered to complete 230 hours of unpaid work.

Moorhouse, of Sunbridge Road, Bradford, was also given a two-year suspended sentence with 250 hours of unpaid work.

Kim Holden, from the CPS, said it was “an appalling abuse of trust”.