‘Greedy carers fleeced widow of £500k fortune’
UNQUALIFIED carers stole more than £500,000 from a 92-year-old widow by ‘grossly’ overcharging for poor service, a court heard yesterday.
Wendy Bell, 57, and Amanda Carroll, 44, set out to ‘milk’ Audrey Hammond, who has Parkinson’s disease, of every penny they could, it is alleged.
They charged up to £121 an hour for round-the- clock care, roping in friends and family to help and taking over Mrs Hammond’s Grade II-listed home in the Yorkshire village of Cracoe.
They even ran a burger van business from the property, Bradford Crown Court heard.
Computers were bought for staff, carpets were damaged, and expensive cars parked outside.
Wendy’s daughter Lisa Bell, 30, once arrived late for a morning shift in a BMW, still wearing full make-up, a mini-skirt and high heels. Another time she was found sleeping as she sunbathed while on duty, the court heard.
Mrs Hammond’s late husband amassed a ‘considerable fortune’ in his coal merchant business and left her land and fishing rights in the Yorkshire Dales.
But the carers siphoned off hundreds of thousands by overcharging, putting in fake petty cash claims and claiming for ‘ghost’ workers, the jury heard.
Wendy Bell and Carroll ‘thought they were utterly untouchable’ and used a number of bank accounts for ‘money laundering on a substantial scale’, said prosecutor Stephen Wood.
The Bells and Helen Banks, 42, deny conspiracy to defraud. Wendy denies two other fraud offences. Carroll, Alice Barker, 59, Linda Mynott, 60, and Caron Gilbert, 32, admit conspiracy to defraud. Carroll admits two more fraud charges. Mr Wood said the case ‘is all about greed’, adding: ‘These defendants … breached the trust reposed in them to simply milk from that lady over half a million pounds by grossly over-claiming for work.
‘Mrs Hammond was subjected to a cruel and heartless fraud.’
Mrs Hammond was diagnosed with debilitating Parkinson’s some years ago. She gave power of attorney to her solicitor, Myron Handzij, allowing him to write cheques on her behalf.
She was initially cared for by her niece Anne Murgatroyd, a retired nurse. Wendy Bell was hired via a care agency to help. In 2006, Mrs Murgatroyd fell ill and Mrs Hammond hired Bell and the others full-time at £8 an hour, paying them directly to avoid giving the agency a cut.
Wendy Bell took a lead role in arranging the cover, the court heard. Mr Handzij was then asked to pay the inflated wages.
‘All requests for payment were met, regrettably it seems without question,’ Mr Wood said.
Not one of the carers Wendy Bell recruited was qualified to look after a Parkinson’s patient.
None of them had a contract, were legally registered, had any Criminal Records Bureau checks done or paid tax on their wages.
When a qualified carer, Vanessa Ingham, did a shift at the house, she was shocked to find no care plan or medication chart.
In one year, Wendy Bell earned £54,600, while Carroll’s £75,600 pay was at a rate of £121 an hour. When police first investigated in September 2012, the group were charging Mrs Hammond £35,000 a month. That fell to £20,000 as soon as an agency took over.
Wendy was allegedly overpaid £138,620 from 2010 to 2012, while Carroll took £225,850. ‘The idea that these monies were genuinely earned or reflect actual earnings is preposterous,’ Mr Wood said.
The case continues.
‘They were untouchable’