'Callous carer' jailed

Deborah Carey's victims included a Littlehampton woman with learning difficulties. Almost 3,000 was plundered from her savings account, Chichester Crown Court was told.

Carey, 41, stole the money between January and December, 2003 while working at the Worthing office of Ability Housing, a registered charity that provides advice and support for people with disabilities.

As part of her job, Carey was given access to the bank accounts of people with physical and learning disabilities to help them handle their financial affairs.

A prolific internet gambler, Carey admitted having lost 20,000 in one year.

At the time she lived in Yapton, but has since moved to Cherry Tree Close, Milford Haven, Wales.

The court heard that Sharon Carden of West Way, Littlehampton, who has learning difficulties, lost an estimated 2,850 to Carey. The defendant transferred money from Miss Carden's savings accounts into her current account, before using her cash card to withdraw money at will.

Thousands of pounds were stolen from the accounts of four people she was caring for and even had some of her clients' bank statements re-directed to her home to avoid detection, said Richard Barton, prosecuting.

Carey stood sobbing in the dock as 13 counts of obtaining money by deception and eight counts of theft were put to her.

Mr Barton said Carey was caught after a couple she was caring for, John and Dianne Guppy, from Bognor, were told they had insufficient funds in their bank to pay their nursing carer.

When they checked their account they saw that Carey had stolen 4,837 from them over two and a half months.

Carey had got the couple to sign blank cheques, which she then made out to herself.

A further 2,650 was stolen from a fourth victim, Mary Taylor, also from Bognor Regis, after Carey took out a credit card in her name, which she never knew about.

When confronted by colleagues about the thefts Carey broke down in tears and admitted stealing money to feed her gambling addiction, said Mr Barton.

She was immediately suspended from her job.

Defending Carey, Rossano Scamardella said that this was a first offence for a hard-working woman who was responsible for the financial security of her family.

In 2004, Carey returned some money to the accounts of those she had stolen from and insisted that she always planned to pay the money back.

Hearing the case, judge Robert Fraser said Carey's actions were "a particularly mean and callous series of crimes".

He told her: "It's quite clear to me that you abused your position of trust to fuel a gambling habit."

Carey was sentenced to 10 months in prison. No order to pay compensation to her victims was made.

Speaking after the case, Sharon Carden's sister, Shirley Carden-Stephenson, said: "I can't believe it, you just trust people and it never occurred to me or Sharon that Deborah could have been stealing her money.

"I kept asking Sharon where her savings book was and I actually phoned Deborah at home to tell her to give Sharon's savings book back or she might get in trouble.

"I actually feel sorry for her now. It can't be any fun being in prison over Christmas.

"The other victims had their money reimbursed by the banks because the cheques were used fraudulently. Sharon has received nothing back.

"Ability Housing did say that if she was found guilty then their insurance would pay back the money owing to my sister.

"But we've not even had a letter from them saying they are sorry or saying anything about it."

David Williams, chief executive of Ability Housing, told the Gazette after the case: "All our employees undergo Criminal Records Bureau checks but they only show up previous convictions.

"When we first became aware of what was going on we handed over all our information to the police.

"Our policy is that our employees do not handle service users' money."