Bilston woman pocketed more than £9,000 of father's care cash
A social worker who pocketed over £9,000 worth of contributions towards the cost of caring for her dementia-suffering father, has been spared jail.
Margaret Roy was put in charge of his finances when he was taken into care in 2016, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
She was supposed to use his pension and state benefits payments to put towards the local authority’s bill for looking after him.
The 55-year-old defendant transferred £8,015 but by November 2018 was £9,609 in debt on the care cost contributions, said Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting.
He added that this roughly represented £330-a-month being taken by her for 29 months before concluding: “The money was used for her own purposes when the need arose.”
The council suggested a series of payment plans to help her settle the debt but she had not agreed to any of them, the court was told.
Mr Exdol Mitchell, defending, said Roy, who was of previous good character, had looked after her father for a considerable period of time as she had with her now deceased mother.
He continued: “She has let herself down and put her father’s accommodation in some jeopardy.”
The defendant had been a council employee for 33 years of which the past 13 years were spent in her present position from which she is currently suspended because of the court case.
A decision on her future is expected to be made later this month.
Roy, from Prestons Grove, Sedgemoor, Bilston, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.
She was given a nine month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.
She was also ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work for the community.
Judge Barry Berlin stressed that she had come perilously close to being sent into custody immediately.
