'Lying' Chelmsford carer spent £143k of 96-year-old's money to go on lavish holiday

An Essex carer who "spun an intricate web of lies" to take nearly £150,000 of a 96-year-old man's money has avoided prison. "Reprehensible" April Jo Richardson splashed out on trips to Barbados, New York and Spain, using the funds she took from the man by abusing her power as his carer.

The 32-year-old of Stansted Close, Chelmsford was found guilty at Inner London Crown Court of fraud by abuse of power and by false representation. She exploited the "generosity and kindness" of the man and his partner, and it was only when their children discovered their accounts showed enormous losses that her criminal actions were exposed.

She defrauded the vulnerable 96-year-old man out of £143,000 to fund her lavish lifestyle, all the while telling lie after lie. These included her being a cancer patient and that she desperately needed help. In one case she messaged pretending to be a cancer nurse called “Sonia” where she pleaded with the husband to provide financial aid for the “last remaining months of her life”.

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The history of the case can be traced back to 2018 when Richardson was employed by KarePlus, on behalf of Essex County Council, as a carer. It was in this capacity that, over time, she befriended the husband of a patient in her care. The patient had suffered a stroke in 2011 and was in the advancing stages of dementia, which meant her condition required personal care twice a day.

In July 2022, when it was established that the patient needed to move into a care home on a more permanent basis, her daughter was required to provide Essex County Council with bank statements from the previous three months, to gauge the patient’s financial means in order to fund her residence. It was at this stage that the couple’s children were shocked to discover that the bank accounts were overdrawn.

After gaining power of attorney in September 2022, the couple’s children were able to access detailed financial information of their parents’ bank accounts. Between September 2018 and July 2022 there were a total of 202 transactions from the couple’s bank account to April Richardson, with an average payment of one per week at £718.

The patient’s husband stated that he had been helping April Richardson over the years by providing funds for various reasons, including new beds for her two young sons, a final holiday to Spain for her sons and her terminally ill father, an iPhone and Apple Watch to enable her to seek employment, new flooring, an urgent trip to New York for private medical treatment for cancer and flights to Barbados for her brother’s wedding.

In total, the payments made from to April Richardson exceeded £143,000 over a five-year period. Richardson givena 20-month prison term suspended for 21 months., and will be required to complete 150hrs of unpaid work and 24 days of a rehabilitation programme.

Detective Inspector Nichola Meghji, from the City of London's Fraud Operations team, said: "The case of April Richardson is shocking and highly reprehensible, especially when you consider the age and vulnerability of the couple and the total amount of money that they lost, through their generosity and kindness.

“Nurses, carers and those working in palliative care are some of the hardest working and most selfless people in the country where a lot of people, in need, rely on them. It’s therefore very sad to see this level of trust abused. Richardson is an incredibly manipulative individual who coerced an elderly couple to part with their money purely for her financial and material gain.”