Couple jailed after dodgy ‘£500,000’ care home swindle
GREED IMPACTED SOCIAL CARE
A GREEDY and “manipulative” husband and wife have been jailed after fleecing two councils of about £500,000 in a care homes staffing scam that they nicknamed “Dodge City”.
Claire Reeder was a supposedly “caring” woman, but she was really a “cynical manipulator” who took “delight” in the huge sums of money that they raked in.
She and her husband, Dimitri Reeder, showed “pure greed” at a time when care for vulnerable adults could have been seriously hit because adult social care services were under immense strain, Hull Crown Court heard.
The loss to Hull City Council was at least £200,097 and for East Riding Council it was £204,952, but the actual fraud was almost certainly much more.
The court was told that the total could have been nearer £500,000 than the “generous” investigation figure of only £405,000 officially estimated.
Dimitri Reeder, 52, of Kingsway, Cottingham, denied two offences of fraud involving Hull City Council between April 2011 and April 2013 and East Riding Council between July 2013 and March 2015.
He also denied false accounting on February 24, 2015 by falsifying a document for accounting purposes.
Reeder was convicted by a jury of the two fraud offences, but was cleared of false accounting.
His wife, Claire Reeder, 40, earlier pleaded guilty to the two fraud offences at a hearing in May.
James Gelsthorpe, prosecuting, said that the fraud involved grossly inflating invoices submitted for supplying agency staff to care homes in Hull and the East Riding.
The couple ran two employment agencies, Proactive Health Partnership Ltd and Angels Careforce Ltd, and charged for huge numbers of hours that were never actually worked.
Invoices were fiddled and they joked that they deserved a “double-sided extra large chufty badge with bells and neon lights and everything” because of the money they would make.
The Reeders “deliberately and dishonestly deceived two local authorities” into paying more than £405,000 to which they weren’t entitled.
“The method was simple,” said Mr Gelsthorpe.
“They submitted invoices to Hull City Council and East Riding Council for work which had not been done or for work that had already been billed.
“This deception was something in which they took a particular pride.” Both had no previous convictions. Peter Holland, of Hull City Council, said in a statement that losses “directly impacted” the services that the council could provide. Money had been allocated to the adult social care budget at a time when the general reserve was exceptionally low.
The money could have been used to support the budget in future years or to support other services that were under greater immediate pressure.
This made the situation more difficult to manage and, in theory, money could have been returned to the taxpayer by offsetting future increases in council tax rates.
Julian Neilson, of East Riding Council, said that the fraud placed extra pressure on social care budgets.
Judge Mark Bury told the pair: “These frauds are extremely serious. This was not a particularly sophisticated fraud.
“It was a cynically operated one where you had spotted a loophole.”
“The money that you were taking wrongly was for the most vulnerable in our society, adult social care. Everyone knows how much value there is in that area.
“It’s sadly the case that most families, in their lives, know somebody who needs adult social care when they are elderly or otherwise vulnerable. This fraud has the potential to make social care provision extremely difficult.”
Judge Bury said of Claire Reeder: “It’s disappointing that someone who comes from a nursing background can behave in this way.”
Dimitri Reeder was jailed for six years. Claire Reeder was jailed for four years and nine months.