A carer who stole a ‘staggering’ sum from a woman in her 90s and even had her victim’s will changed to inherit her house has been spared jail.
Evelyn Jones, 67, was condemned by a judge as ‘truly criminal’ for plundering £145,000 from the bank accounts of ‘particularly vulnerable’ Gwen Williams, who had dementia.
Jones, employed as Ms Williams’ carer via an agency, began spending ‘virtually all day’ with her victim, rearranging hospital or dental appointments to times when only she could take her.
The pensioner’s family became sidelined, her contact with them slowly reducing until it stopped altogether, while her landline phone was moved to a place where she could not reach it and items of her property went missing, a court was told.
When relatives visited her home near Rhyl, North Wales, they found a large keyboard being moved to block access to her lounge.
Meanwhile, Jones ordered Sky TV when Ms Williams had trouble watching TV at all, and arranged for fencing to be put up at the address.
The prosecutors said that Jones’ control over her victim was such that, in June 2016, she accompanied her to see her solicitor at Gamlins law firm in Rhyl, where Ms Williams changed her will to bequeath her home to Jones.
The carer drained Ms Williams’ accounts after being given access to her bank accounts to help with her shopping, the court was told.
The fraud was eventually uncovered after bank workers became suspicious.
Jones was given a two-year suspended jail term and 300 hours’ community service when sentenced on Tuesday at Mold Crown Court after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position.
Although Jones had stolen a ‘startling’ amount of money from Ms Williams, Judge Niclas Parry decided against sending her to jail – partly due to the passage of time since the crimes, which happened before her victim’s death in January 2018.
He told her: ‘I’m afraid the clue was in the job description – carer.
‘You had one job. That was to care and protect a very elderly, private, dependent and frugal lady, who had worked all her life. Over £140,000 has simply vanished.’
The court heard Jones, of Prestatyn, did not live a ‘lavish lifestyle’ – but a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing is set to take place to determine if the money can be recovered.
Prosecutor Matthew Kerruish-Jones told the court Jones was assigned as Ms Williams’ carer after she was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2009 and later suffered a stroke.
At that time, her family said they noticed a ‘decline in her ability to properly deal with finances’.
At times, she had ‘very, very large amounts of cash, which she was unable to keep track of, at home’, the court heard.
The suspicious banking activity was uncovered in November 2017 after Jones took a then wheelchair-bound Ms Williams to the Halifax bank in Rhyl, telling staff she was her carer.
When a bank worker asked Ms Williams if she knew the PIN code to her own accounts, she answered: ‘No.’
The Halifax worker then noticed ‘a lot of transactions’ on Ms Williams’ account and asked about her recent spending.
Twice, Jones stepped in to answer for her, claiming she had had work done on her roof.
The crooked carer then told the bank worker she would like £20,000 moved from one of Ms Williams’ accounts to the other.
The bank consultant became suspicious, noticing that roughly £300 had been taken out of Ms Williams’ account from cashpoints in Rhyl or Prestatyn every day since August 2017.
A note had been placed on the account that October saying the fraud department should be alerted after £1,000 was removed.
The fraud department, and subsequently police, were then called in.
The court heard that when Jones was searched, two bank cards of Ms Williams’, and a photocopy of her bank statement, were found on her person.
Further discoveries were made at Jones’ home – a letter regarding debts she owed, Ms Williams’ will, a blank power of attorney form, and cash in coins and notes.
Days later, Ms Williams told a social worker she ‘had no money’. She was then admitted to hospital with an infection and died two months later at Glan Clywd Hospital.
Family members said that after her death, they were ‘shocked’ at the state of her house, with mould growing in the fridge, dirt and dust covering the kitchen floor, upstairs furniture gone and Ms Williams’ property placed in binbags.
Mr Kerruish-Jones said £131,674.14 had been withdrawn from Ms Williams’ Nationwide account, and £15,400 from her Halifax account – totalling £147,074.14, which had ‘simply vanished’.
The court heard Jones had three previous convictions for four offences including obtaining property by deception – but the most recent of those offences was in 1987 and she had since developed ‘a good work ethic’.
Defending, Sarah Yates said she had not re-offended since these the fraud against Ms Williams came to light seven years ago – has since found new employment in another industry and posed a ‘low risk’ of reoffending.
Speaking from an upstairs window of her detached home, Jones told the Mail she was a grandmother of ten and a carer for 30 years.
She claimed she had only pleaded guilty on the advice of her lawyers, insisting: ‘I have pleaded guilty to something I haven’t done.’
Despite the evidence presented in court, she claimed she ‘hadn’t stolen’, adding that she ‘didn’t want the house’.
She added: ‘I haven’t been on holiday for about twelve years, I don’t drink and don’t go out.’