Carer stole £17,000 from pensioner with Alzheimer’s

Carer stole £17,000 from pensioner with Alzheimer’s

17 May 2017

AN Ardglass woman has received a nine-month suspended prison sentence for taking thousands of pounds from the bank account of an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s.

Fifty four year-old Margaret Iris Telford, of Kildare’s Court, admitted 17 counts of fraud by false representation when she appeared in the Crown Court yesterday morning.

A prosecution lawyer explained that Telford was a carer for the elderly woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2013.

The elderly woman regularly asked Telford to use her debit card to make withdrawals from a bank ATM as she did not know how to operate the card.

But Telford began visiting the ATM late at night or when the pensioner was away visiting family members.

The court was told Telford knew the elderly woman had money in her account as she had been given gifts of cash in the past.

The crime was uncovered when a suspicious bank manager noticed a series of withdrawals totalling £17,450 from the elderly lady’s account over a 17 month period between May 2013 and October 2014.

He spoke with his customer who confirmed she had not made any withdrawals, as she did not know how to operate the debit card.

The manager contacted the PSNI and Telford was interviewed about the alleged fraud in 2015 before pleading guilty to 17 identical charges in July 2016.

Sentencing Telford to a nine-month custodial sentence, Judge Stephen Fowler said she had significant “psychiatric and psychological” issues, but he was prepared to suspend the sentence for three years “with some hesitation”.

The judge said the defendant had become “isolated” in her community and had brought shame on herself and her family.

The judge said an aggravating feature of the case was that it was a “breach of trust that happened over a significant period of time”.

It was a “significant amount of money”.

In mitigation he said there was a very early plea that saved a trial, as the complainant was not in a position to give evidence in court.

He said Telford had expressed considerable shame, embarrassment and remorse. She had been subject to significant trauma in her early life and was under considerable stress in the lead up to the matter before the court.

Judge Fowler said Telford had been ill for a period of five years before the matter came before the court.