Carer stole £12k from old folk she was meant to help
A CARER took £12,000 from four elderly clients after getting hold of their bank details.
Charlene Somerville, 32, used the cash to pay off credit cards, towards phone payments and parking tickets - and a trip to Aldi.
She was rumbled after Lloyds Bank raised concerns about an account belonging to an elderly woman.
Suspicious transactions were analysed before it was discovered there were payments to phone company Three as well as towards parking tickets, both of which were linked to Somerville, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Police searched her home. They found bank cards and bank details written down on bits of paper in Somerville’s purse. The cards were linked to elderly clients.
It was later discovered Somerville had used the cards to pay off credit cards, mobile phone payments, a shop at Aldi, at Dunelm Mill and a finance loan company. The total amount was £12,045.
Somerville, from Collyhurst, admitted four counts of fraud by abuse of position at an earlier hearing.
She has now been sentenced to 20 months in jail, suspended for two years.
Prosecutor Kimberley Obrusik said Somerville began working at SOS Homecare in January 2016. She was dismissed for gross misconduct in March 2017 for other, unrelated matters. “She continued to work in the care industry and began working for another company in October 2017,” Ms Obrusik added.
One of the victims of the £12,000 fraud suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, the court heard.
Suspicious activity on her account prompted the investigation. That woman lost £4,181.
Another woman lost £3,181 following 42 fraudulent transactions.
A third victim lost £2,732 following 23 transactions. The fourth person - a dementia sufferer - lost £1,947 following 15 transactions.
All victims were fully refunded, the
court heard. Rachel Faux, defending, said: “She appears terrified and tearful, coming to court. These offences were out of character.”
Judge Bernadette Baxter told Somerville: “It doesn’t take me to tell you that these are mean offences and any right thinking member of the public would be disgusted at the thought of this. You have to step up, face up to your actions, face yourself, face people and get back to living a decent life.”
Somerville, of Robert Malcolm Close, was also ordered to complete 35 days of rehabilitation activity requirements.