Care worker stole £10,000 from patients in hospital
A “HEARTLESS” healthcare assistant stole patients’ bank cards as they slept and spent almost £10,000 of their hardearned cash on clothes, takeaways and a car, a court heard.
Marie Taylor, 32, stole from five vulnerable people being treated in the acute medical unit at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital between March and November last year.
Taylor, of Pym Close, Wednesfield, admitted charges of fraud and theft. She was jailed for two years and eight months.
Wolverhampton Crown Court Judge Rhona Campbell told her: “You did this to augment your lifestyle. The offences you have committed are breathtaking in callousness. You targeted the most vulnerable in society and this reveals heartlessness as, unfortunately, some were not just ill, they were on death’s door.”
Jason Aris, prosecuting, said during her nine-month spending spree, she used their debit and credit cards to spend £9,312.70. She also tried to spend a further £3,348.77 – including attempting to book a family holiday to Zante with Thomas Cook – but the transactions were rejected.
The mum-of-one’s victims included a dementia sufferer, a partially blind diabetic and a husband and wife, who have both since died.
The victims’ purses and wallets had been taken during their hospital stays, with the cards being used at a variety of stores at Bentley Bridge – including Sainsbury’s and McDonald’s – and online at JustEat, Simply Be and Asda.
Taylor also used a bank card belonging to a now dead cancer patient to buy a £2,995 car.
Her deceit came to light in November when the daughter of one of the victims realised her father’s bank had been fraudulently used eight times to make purchases at Sainsbury’s and McDonald’s.
Mr Aris told the court police had took stills from CCTV footage in the stores and Taylor was later identified by a senior staff nurse at New Cross Hospital.
Katie McCreath, defending, said Taylor’s actions had been opportunist, adding she had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression after suffering a miscarriage prior to the offending.