New Cross Hospital healthcare assistant stole thousands from dying patients
Terminally ill and dementia patients were targeted by a healthcare assistant, who stole more than £12,000 from their wallets.
Marie Taylor stole from five people being treated in the acute medical unit where she worked at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.
It is believed they were taken from close to their beds while the targeted individuals had either been moved away for treatment or were asleep and in no condition to notice that the item was missing.
At least one of them is understood to have since passed away.
Taylor used their debit and credit cards to spend £12,126 in eight months, primarily on food and clothes. Attempts to spend another £3,348 were rejected.
Attempts to buy holidays and cars
The 32-year-old thief is thought to have used one of the cards to try to book a £3,000-plus holiday for her family on Greek island of Zante but the bid backfired when Thomas Cook staff spotted the card she used had somebody else's name on it.
An apparent attempt to buy a car also stalled because the identities on the bank card and driving licence did not match.
Banks suspected that some of the cards had been used fraudulently but any warning letters sent to those involved are likely to have remained unopened since the victims were seriously unwell in hospital.
The wallet and purse thefts took place between February and October last year and a police investigation was launched in November after the daughter of one of the targeted patients discovered the victim's bank card had been used eight times on purchases with a total of £400 in branches of Sainsbury's and McDonald's.
The person using the stolen card had been filmed by CCTV cameras at both outlets. It was obviously the same individual and she was identified when the pictures were shown to New Cross Hospital staff.
A search of her home revealed stolen cards and receipts from fraudulent transactions.
Previously cautioned
Those involved in the investigation said the motive was greed.
She used the stolen money on shopping sprees in stores like Dorothy Perkins and it was revealed she once paid a £2.55p bill at Sainsbury's with a stolen card.
Taylor, from Plym Close, Wednesfield, was given a caution in 2006 for theft by an employee but used a different name meaning it would not have shown up on checks when she applied to work at New Cross Hospital in August 2011.
She admitted 17 offences of either theft or fraud when she appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court and was remanded on bail for pre-sentence reports.
The defendant was warned by Judge Amjad Nawaz: "Don't read anything into my granting you bail. These were nasty offences committed in an abuse of trust and a custodial sentence may be inevitable."
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Chief Operating Officer Gwen Nuttall said: "We have a zero tolerance approach to crime and a robust trust policy to make sure our patients and their belongings are safe, and that our security measures are strong and regularly assessed.
"Thankfully, such criminal acts are very rare and do not reflect our extremely hard working and highly professional staff.
"As soon as we were made aware of a potential crime the member of staff was suspended, and subsequently dismissed from duties."
