A THIEVING carer who stole cash from an 80-year-old patient at a residential home was caught after she tried to cash a forged cheque for £1,000.
Shari Brailey took victim Brian Ford’s bank card and PIN from his bedside drawer as she looked after him at the Dove Tree home in Heavitree, Exeter, and used them to withdraw £750 in the space of two days.
She also wrote a £1,000 cheque in the name of her boyfriend and tried to cash it at a bank but an alert cashier became suspicious about the signature and raised the alarm.
Brailey had cared for Mr Ford for about five years and they got on so well that when she asked him to give her £500 to help with the cost of her commute to work, he agreed.
He did not know at the time that she had already helped herself to his money and was planning to make an illegal ‘gift’ of £1,000.
Brailey, aged 27, of Drake Road, Newton Abbot, admitted three counts of theft and one of attempted theft and was jailed for six months, suspended for a year, and ordered to do 120 hours’ unpaid community work by Recorder Mr David Bartlett at Exeter Crown Court.
He told her: ‘You took advantage of this man’s age and lack of sophistication and stole £750 in three different tranches and as a result of this investigation, you lost your job.
‘You know very well you have committed a very serious breach of trust. He said he was left feeling like a fool and that his trust was abused, as anybody would.’
Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said Brailey got on well with Mr Ford who had given her £500 to help with travel expenses after she told him she may have to stop working at Dove Tree.
Shortly afterwards, his bank returned a cheque for £1,000 and the home started an inquiry which showed a series of withdrawals from his account on March 4 and 5 this year.
Miss Payne said the home had a strict protocol about gifts, under which the £500 had been approved.
The other payments were not approved by either Mr Ford or the home and were made using a card she took from his bedside cabinet.
He made a victim statement which said: ‘I have been left feeling like a fool. I tried to do something nice for someone I trusted, but she has abused my trust.’
Miss Emmi Wilson, mitigating, said Brailey had regretted what she had done immediately and made full admissions to the police. The offending had all happened in the space of two days.
She had lost her job and her career as a carer and has tried to repay some of the money he gave her. Mr Ford is not out of pocket because the £1,000 cheque was refused and the £750 has been refunded by his bank.