'Sneaky' Camborne nurse's awful act of betrayal

A "sneaky" nurse withdrew thousands of pounds from her vulnerable victim's bank account to pay her bills because she was struggling to make ends meet, a court has heard.

Dee-Ann James, 46, withdrew £6,000 over several months by stealing her victim's bank card and taking it to supermarkets. She did this while attending the elderly woman's home for regular care appointments in £300 increments.

James, of Chycarne Moor in Troon, Camborne, appeared at Truro Crown Court on Thursday, November 28, having pleaded guilty to one count of theft. The offence relates to the defendant stealing £6,000 from her 92-year-old victim over several months leading up to April 2024.

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The court heard how the victim required help due to a recent lack of mobility following a fall. As a result, she was supported by nurses from Falmouth-based company MSS Care who attended twice daily for 20 minutes.

Carers were required to log in using a log book at the property and the care was arranged by the victim's neighbours. It heard how the victim trusted only her two longstanding neighbours with her bank card and would hand it over for them to complete her weekly shop which they would do on alternate weeks.

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On occasion, she would ask them to withdraw cash to pay the gardener but the neighbours always returned with the card, cash and the shopping as requested. On Monday, April 1, 2024, the victim realised her bank card was missing and "panicked".

Her neighbour helped to search for the card but could not locate it. The victim was described as "very upset" and could not sleep on discovering this.

It was cancelled the following day by Barclays. The bank also informed her that several payments had been made in the previous days and they would send a copy of statements to her to check the activity.

On inspection, it was discovered the transactions did not add up but all of the three ladies who had access to the card knew it was not them. Barclays then informed the cardholder that withdrawals were being made right up until the card was cancelled.

They consisted of weekly cash withdrawals of £300. It was mostly withdrawn from the Asda at Penryn and also the Sainsburys at Falmouth.

The victim then reported this information to the police. The neighbours were then questioned about whether anyone else entered the property to which they explained carers entered daily.

They then correlated the carer's log at the property with the date of the withdrawals which led them to Dee-Ann James and police were able to confirm it was her by matching her to CCTV footage of a withdrawal. In total, she withdrew £6,000 in cash from the victim's account.

At an initial police interview James tried to deny carrying out the offence and said her victim had in the past asked her to take some money out and was unable to return the card, which police found in her purse. She also told police the victim had "offered" to lend her money and she had it for "safekeeping". None of which was true.

She also admitted to being "sneaky with it" but said she could not condone what she had done and was "going to lose everything". She called her victim a "genuinely nice old person".

James' defence barrister said it was a "deplorable" offence but the defendant showed genuine remorse and fully accepted what she had done. While she initially denied it out of panic the court heard she pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

Her barrister added it was "out of character" and that James had no prior convictions but was "overburdened" by the financial pressures of her family at the time. They said James was struggling to make ends meet and took the card "on impulse" and used the money to pay bills, not to buy luxuries.

Sentencing James, His Honour Judge Robert Linford, said: "You were the carer for a 92-year-old woman. She was entitled to feel safe both personally and financially. You were there to help her and in fact, what you did was steal her bank card and £6,000 of her money.

"It was an appalling breach of trust. There is a very high level of trust imposed on people working in the care community." He said while carers are "very little rewarded for the work they do" that the answer is not to take from those who are kind to them.

"I'm prepared to accept that you didn't fritter this [money] away on luxuries," he added. James was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months and ordered to pay back the money in full to the victim over the next two years.