JAILED: Crooked care home manager fleeced dying dementia resident

Scheming Julie Maddox was allowed to use the bank card of Raymond Barrasford to buy goods when he needed them but took advantage of his vulnerability to abuse the trust put in her by his family, a judge was told.

She's now been sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Mr Barrasford suffered from dementia and Alzheimer's disease and she seized the opportunity to syphon off up to £80,000 from his bank account in three years to fund a gambling addiction allegedly started with a scratch cards, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Maddox, 47-year-old manager of the Oak Lodge care home in Adams Road, Walsall, made regular weekly withdrawals of up to £200-a-time from his account and covered them by disposing of bank statements for the period 2016 to 2018.

Mr Barrasford had been unwell since 2014, became bed bound last year and died on New Year's Eve, explained Ms Olivia Appleby, prosecuting.

The crime was uncovered after he passed away when members of his extended family checked his possessions and discovered the missing bank statements, continued the prosecutor.

His godchild Adam Bradley, whose father had been a life long friend of Mr Barrasford, contacted the bank and got copies which revealed a total of £80,130 had been withdrawn over the three years with £24,000 removed in 2016, £26,100 the following year and £30,030 last year.

Maddox even had the cheek to send the family a letter on November 20 last year, just weeks before his death, which claimed he owed £10,429 in unpaid care home bills when he paid by direct debit and she knew why the account was empty, disclosed Ms Appleby.

She admitted taking money from him after police launched an investigation but told officers she had lost track of how much was involved.

Mr Bradley declared in a victim impact statement: "This incident affected me and the family immensely. He was betrayed by a person who should have been looking after him when he was at his most vulnerable."

Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, conceded: "This was a breach of a high degree of trust and responsibility.

"She mistreated the friendship he thought he had with her but nobody knows how much was stolen. Not all the money was taken out for her benefit.

"Estimates following examination of the statements suggest that she took something between £50,000 and £69,000.

"Whatever the exact figure it was a very significant amount. Slowly but surely she had acquired an addiction to gambling. An opportunity appeared and took it."

Maddox, from Parker Street, Bloxwich, pleaded guilty to theft from the person of another, and was sent to prison by Judge Martin Jackson who told her: "This was a persistent theft of money through a sustained period and there is a need to deter others who might be tempted to steal money from vulnerable people."