Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Killers, robbers and paedos in bid for care job
MURDERERS, paedophiles, robbers and drug dealers were among 13,000 criminals who applied for jobs as carers last year.
The shock total also included people with convictions for cruelty, violence and other sex offences.
Campaigners yesterday urged tougher restrictions, amid fears some criminals might still have been hired by employers desperate for staff to care for vulnerable adults and the elderly. The 12,951 applicants had committed a colossal 65,098 offences. Three were convicted of murder, four of manslaughter and 29 had killed while driving dangerously, carelessly or recklessly.
There were 4,000 assaults, 3,453 offences of burglary, 726 thefts from employers, 5,079 crimes of shoplifting, 2,513 benefit frauds and 295 robbery convictions.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) also revealed hundreds of drug convictions, two for revenge porn, one for sexual grooming of a child, two for bigamy and 10 for running a brothel.
Gary FitzGerald, of Action on Elder Abuse, said: “These are deeply worrying findings. What’s most astonishing is that it’s the employer’s discretion as to whether that person gets a job looking after some of the most vulnerable members of our society.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Those who commit the most serious criminal offences will be barred from working with vulnerable groups.”