Dudley carer stole £7.5k from vulnerable client to fund 'search for love'

Sarah Grey targeted Paul Chapman, a 50-year-old with learning difficulties and a speech impediment, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The scheming 44-year-old assistant care co-ordinator with the Dudley Adult Social Care department had responsibility for looking after him for more than two years before closing his case and starting to prey on him.

Grey used details of Mr Chapman's accounts to take out a £5,000 loan in his name from the Nationwide and have the money paid into his Halifax current account on April 30, 2014, revealed Mr David Bennett, prosecuting.

She then made six withdrawals in as many days totalling £3,800 and tried to cover up the fraud by pretending the cash was going to the Department of Work and Pensions when in fact it went straight into her personal account, the court heard.

Twelve months later she had taken the entire £5,000 and also pocketed a further £2,418 from his current account and using a bank car issued in his name.

The authorities were alerted when a member of staff at Nationwide contacted Dudley Council to express concern over the management of his bank accounts. Bemused Mr Chapman later revealed he had been refused permission to withdraw money from the account on 'two or three' occasions because there were insufficient funds.

Grey was strapped for cash after bombarding unidentified people with gifts and flowers she could not afford, it was said. And she used the money fleeced from Mr Chapman to pay for a trip to meet a man she had fallen for via the internet. Mr Simon Hanns, defending, said: "She was trying to fulfill that relationship but like so many others she has tried to fulfill, it failed. This was a desperate search for love."

Grey from Kipwood Avenue, Kingswinford, who was of previous good character, pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud and one of theft and was jailed for 14 months by Judge John Wait, who told her: "The man was vulnerable and still required care when you closed down his case. He was found in a desperate state with his house in disarray."

Mr Chapman, who lives in Dudley, said after the case: "I learned to trust her and she made me dependant on her if anything went wrong. I never thought she would steal from me or commit fraud. Since I found out about everything she did, I feel I have been tricked and that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth."

The victim, who has personally lost more than £2,400 he can ill afford, continued: "I feel betrayed and let down. She had promised to help me and give me all the support I needed after my mother died in June 2012."