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JAILED: Carer stole from man who had dementia to help pay out her bills

A former carer who paid for bills by stealing from a man with dementia has been jailed.

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Heather McCann admitted using the credit card details of a man she was paid to care for to splash out on two tops and car insurance.

Her fraud was only uncovered because a man who helps with the victim's financial affairs spotted payments on statements which he could have not have made himself.

McCann, of Albert Terrace in Stafford, made a fraudulent insurance application worth £87.15 on August 24, 2016 using the card details - despite being banned from driving - and then bought two tops worth £60.15 just over a week later on September 1.

McCann, aged 45, had worked for Stafford-based Radfield Home Care for just a month before she took the credit card number and its three digit security code for her own use from the man's Stafford home.

Prosecutor Mr Adam Warner said: "There is an abuse of trust and Mrs McCann is a carer.

"She was employed as a carer and I don't think I need to say any more than that."

Police stopped her in the insured Ford Focus in Westhead Avenue in Stafford on October 11.

She had been told on April 1 that she was subject to a suspended sentence for 12 months over breaches of a driving ban handed to her in 2013.

A pre-sentence report into her frauds last year found she had committed 'pre-meditated' offences and posed a medium risk to the public.

A probation officer told magistrates McCann has a 'tendency to bury her head in the sand' and that she was worried about how she would be able to cope in prison.

McCann had earlier admitted two counts of fraud by false representation and driving while disqualified at Cannock Magistrates' Court.

Director at Radfield Home Care, Alex Green, said: "As soon as we became aware of the issues, we worked closely with the police and the employee was dismissed with immediate effect."

Magistrates handed McCann a nine-week sentence on the first fraud and another nine-week sentence on the second, to run concurrently.

She has been banned from driving for five years. She must also pay £185 court costs and a victim surcharge of £15.

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