A ‘cruel’ care worker who stole more than £17,000 from five elderly residents with highly complex special needs has been jailed.
Cheryl Pratt, 35, plundered the accounts of the victims and spent thousands on her gambling addiction, as well as Uber Eats takeaway meals and shopping splurges at Asda and Debenhams, York Crown Court heard.
Pratt’s shocking betrayal of the five “extremely vulnerable” victims at Gravers Care Home in Clifton had shattered staff morale and traumatised the victims who liked her and trusted her implicitly.
Prosecutor Rob Galley said that over a 13-month period between August 2020 and September 2021, Pratt stole just over £18,780 from the victims who had severe psychological, mental-health or learning difficulties.
Pratt, who was responsible for looking after their finances, transferred the cash via PayPal from the victims’ accounts into her own.
She stole just over £7,527 from one 65-year-old woman by setting up a PayPal account for her and then transferring the cash into her own PayPal funds.
She targeted the other victims by using a similar method, namely setting up PayPal accounts in their name and using their bank-accounts details to which she had access as part of her job.
One of the victims was a 59-year-old woman who had a brain injury. Pratt took £547 from her account until her bank card was declined.
She stole about £2,300 from a 66-year-old woman and £5,112 from a 74-year-old woman.
Pratt, from Byland Avenue, York, stole more than £3,260 from a 71-year-old man’s account and spent it on online gambling and shopping, as well as Uber Eats takeaways. The elderly man had since died.
Police called in
Mr Galley said the care home had strict rules in place regarding the recording of residents’ finances and bank transactions, but Pratt somehow managed to skirt these policies.
He said that Pratt had taken advantage of the victims’ vulnerabilities to financially exploit them.
“The defendant was employed as a senior care worker for some nine years at the care home,” added Mr Galley.
Pratt’s fraud spree first came to light when the brother of one of the victims noticed suspicious withdrawals from cash machines on her account. Her brother, who had power of attorney over her finances, reported his concerns to the care home.
Enquiries revealed that it was Pratt who had made the cash withdrawal in August 2021. A disciplinary hearing took place the following month when Pratt claimed that she had given the money back to the victim.
The matter was reported to police whose investigations revealed that Pratt had been systematically stealing from the victims via PayPal and through cash withdrawals and that she had been spending some of the money on online gambling websites.
He said that Pratt had at least four different gambling accounts on which she had spent £21,812 in 100 separate transactions between August 2020 and September 2021.
She was charged with five counts of fraud by abuse of position and ultimately admitted all the offences. She appeared for sentence today.
‘Tearful and in shock’
The prosecution read out statements from the victims whose learning and cognitive difficulties meant that their care staff had to help them prepare the depositions.
One elderly woman, who was defrauded to the tune of over £7,500, had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals throughout her adult life before being taken into the care home. She suffered from several mental disorders including schizophrenia.
Pratt gave her one-to-one care as part of her administrative role, as well as managing her banking and making online purchases for her. However, Pratt had “taken this opportunity to calculate and plot the (fraudulent) transactions”.
The elderly victim found it “very difficult” to believe that Pratt had stolen from her and was “tearful and in shock”.
There had been a visible decline in the victim’s mental health since she learned of the betrayal and she was refusing to leave her room at one point. She felt “angry and couldn’t understand why Ms Pratt did this to her”.
Another elderly female victim said she had trusted Pratt and she too was “in shock and disbelief” at the wicked betrayal which had left her feeling “deeply vulnerable and terrible” and suffering from anxiety and sleepless nights.
The victim added: “I feel as though part of my peace of mind has been stolen.”
Another female victim, who required 24-hour care, said that Pratt had stolen money she had inherited from her late father. Pratt had taken the cash while accompanying the woman on shopping trips.
A staff manager said that the fifth victim, an elderly man who died in March 2021, was a “much-loved character”. By the time of his passing, Pratt’s dreadful deceit had not been discovered.
She said it was “heartbreaking” having to tell his family about the thefts so soon after their bereavement.
Mr Galley said although all the living victims had been reimbursed, Pratt’s thievery also had a profound impact on the care home as it was now harder for staff to “build trust with the residents”.
Gambling debts
Defence barrister Rhianydd Clement said that Pratt, a mother-of-two, was now on benefits after losing her job at the care home.
“She is deeply ashamed, remorseful and disgusted with her behaviour,” added Ms Clement.
“This offending is underpinned by a gambling addiction developed during the Covid pandemic, which led to her being in debt and struggling to pay for necessities for her children.”
She said that as well as the gambling splurges, Pratt had also used the stolen money to buy food, clothes and other essentials for her family.
She said the offences were “out of character” and her client had no previous convictions, albeit she received a police caution for theft in 2002.
Judge Simon Hickey said that Pratt’s systematic fraud had had a “huge” impact on the “extremely vulnerable” victims.
He told the defendant: “They were all very fond of you and trusted you and they were appalled and shocked (after being told of the fraud) and some couldn’t believe that you could have done such a thing.
“Over those 13 months, you did betray a trust in the most severe way. You had an addiction to gambling: that’s really why you are in the dock, and you were funding your own habit.”
The judge described the fraud as “planned, sophisticated and determined” and cited the “emotional, psychological and financial” harm to the victims.
Pratt received a two-year jail sentence but, under new sentencing rules, will serve less than half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.
‘Cold, cruel and calculated’
DC Oliver Dalby, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “Cheryl Pratt’s offending was cold, cruel and calculated. As a senior carer, she knew which residents would be the most vulnerable to financial exploitation – and these were the people she targeted.
“She abused her position, disregarding her duty to safeguard the care home residents in pursuit of her own self-interest.
“The victims and her former colleagues have been left utterly devastated by her actions, and it is right that she faces the consequences of her crimes.
I’d also like to thank the victims and the care home staff for their patience and support during this investigation.”