Prestatyn carer stole more than £145K from woman in mid-90s

Evelyn Jones defrauded Gwen Williams, who died in January 2018 at the age of 96, of a “staggering” amount of money, and had Ms Williams’ will changed to bequeath her home to herself.

Jones, 67, of Victoria Road West, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for the same time period, at Mold Crown Court today (November 4), having previously admitted fraud by abuse of position.

Prosecutor Matthew Kerruish-Jones told the court that, in 2009, Ms Williams was diagnosed with vascular dementia, and later suffered a stroke, so was assigned Jones as her carer.

Her family noted a “decline in her ability to properly deal with finances”, and said that, at times, she had “very, very large amounts of cash, which she was unable to keep track of, at home”.

The care package given to her was initially delivered by Jones on behalf of the Rhyl-based Michael Phillips Care Agency, who employed her.

She was given access to Ms Williams’ accounts to assist her with her shopping, but went to leave Michael Phillips and purported to provide care to Ms Williams directly.

But Ms Williams’ relatives noticed a number of changes in her, including the level of contact they had with her slowly reducing until it stopped altogether, her phone being moved to a place where she could not reach it, items of her property going missing, and a large keyboard being moved to block access to her lounge.

Her relatives also noticed Jones began spending “virtually all day” with her, rearranging hospital or dental appointments to times when only she could take her, and, in June 2016, accompany her to Gamlins Solicitors in Rhyl, where Ms Williams changed her will to bequeath her home to Jones.

On November 16, 2017, Jones took Ms Williams, in a wheelchair, to the Halifax bank in Rhyl, where she told a consultant she was her carer.

When the consultant asked Ms Williams if she knew the PIN code to her own accounts, she answered: “No.”

The consultant then noticed “a lot of transactions” on Ms Williams’ account, so asked her if she had been using her bank card lately.

Jones answered for her twice, saying she had had work done on her roof, and told the consultant she would like £20,000 moved from one of Ms Williams’ accounts to the other.

In addition, the consultant noticed roughly £300 had been taken out of Ms Williams’ account from cashpoints in Rhyl or Prestatyn every day since August 2017.

The account had also been registered on an online banking mobile application, while there was a note on the account saying: “phone the fraud department”, and evidence that £1,000 had been transferred out of it on October 19.

The fraud department, and subsequently police, were called due to staff at the bank having concerns about the account’s activity.

When Jones was searched, two bank cards of Ms Williams’, and a photocopy of her bank statement, were found on her person.

At Jones’ home, a letter regarding debts she owed, Ms Williams’ will, a blank power of attorney form, and cash in coins and notes were all found.

Days after this, a social worker was told by Ms Williams that she “had no money”, before she was admitted to hospital with an infection; she died two months later.

After her death, family members were “shocked” at the state they found her house in, with mould growing in the fridge, the kitchen floor thick with dirt and dust, most of the upstairs furniture gone, and what was left of Ms Williams’ property placed in binbags.

In total, Mr Kerruish-Jones said, £131,674.14 was withdrawn from Ms Williams’ Nationwide account, and £15,400 from her Halifax account, making a total withdrawal of £147,074.14.

This money, he added, has “simply vanished”.

Defending Jones, who had three previous convictions for four offences including obtaining property by deception, Sarah Yates said she has not re-offended since these matters came to light seven years ago.

Jones had not been convicted since 1987, and was said to have a “good work ethic”, having since found new employment in another industry.

A pre-sentence report compiled on her behalf concluded that she presented a low risk of further offending, meanwhile.

Sentencing, Judge Niclas Parry also ordered Jones to complete 300 hours’ unpaid work for stealing a “startling” amount of money from Ms Williams.

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. It cannot be accounted for. You caused that because of your lack of care.

“Your failure to apply that basic element of your duty is truly criminal.”