Care home boss stole £22,500 from resident

An ex-care home manager who stole £22,500 from one of her vulnerable residents has been given a suspended jail term.

Ann Comer, 58, of Waterfield Road, Hereford, was convicted of six counts of fraud by abuse of position, at Worcester Crown Court on Monday.

Her offences relate to her time at Springfield House, a dementia care home in Malvern, Worcestershire, where she joined as a manager in April 2016, and included using the resident's cash to help finance a holiday to Dubai.

Comer was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for 12 months. A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing has been scheduled to be held at a future date.

Her offending came to light in 2019 when she was reported to police around suspicions she had used the bank card of a resident with dementia to make withdrawals and purchases.

Comer denied the offence during a police interview but an investigation by West Mercia Police's Economic Crime Unit (ECU) found she had moved the victim into the home before stealing her bank card.

Inquiries revealed she was withdrawing an average of £1,400 a month from cash machines and using it to supplement her lifestyle.

She also made withdrawals the day before flying out to Dubai.

Officers established a link between the cash withdrawals correlating to Comer's use of a Matalan store card to help prove the fraud.

Det Cons Conal O'Leary from the ECU said: "We are pleased to secure this conviction against Comer who maintained her innocence throughout this investigation and court case.

"She abused her position of trust to defraud a vulnerable person of a large sum of money to support her own lifestyle, including a holiday to Dubai.

"She took advantage of one of the very people she should be taking care of and should never be placed in such a role ever again."

The BBC has contacted Springfield House for comment.

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