Published date: 15 April 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporter
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A SUPPORT worker who helped care for the elderly has been jailed for three years after a court heard how he defrauded two pensioners out of money.
Former soldier Robert Hooper, 46, had taken nearly £12,000 from one victim which virtually wiped out his savings.
Hooper, of Brunswick Road, Buckley, denied fraud while working in the Rhyl area as a support worker for Clwyd Alyn Housing Association back in 2012 and 2013.
But he was convicted at an earlier trial at Caernarfon Crown Court.
A judge said it was “unscrupulous dishonesty” by a man in debt who had buried his head in the sand.
The Recorder Duncan Bould, sitting at Mold Crown Court yesterday, said the defendant’s discharge papers from the armed services described him as reliable and trustworthy which no doubt enabled him to obtain work as a support worker.
“You were placed in a position of great trust so far as the individuals with whom you dealt was concerned,” he said.
His victims were vulnerable and it was clear they held the defendant in the highest regard.
“They trusted you implicitly with their finances.”
But he had breached their trust by stealing from both of them and the judge said he had been convicted on overwhelming evidence.
He had stolen a modest amount from his first victim and then went on to hoodwink him into believing he might have made an error in a transaction that took place.
The second victim who lost £12,000 had told how he trusted the defendant implicitly, believed he was such a nice man and never dreamt that anything like that would happen.
“His trust in you was complete,” Mr Bould said.
He handed the defendant his pension book and card which enabled him to have control over his finances.
Over a significant period he stole on a weekly basis a total of £12,000.
“This was one of the most unpleasant breach of trust cases imaginable,” he explained.
The defendant knew the victim had suffered a stroke and he was not sure what had happened to his own money.
There was little mitigation. He could have no credit for admissions or a guilty plea, and he still did not recognise he was responsible for the frauds he had been convicted of.
In evidence the defendant said his debts were manageable but the judge said that the debts of some £40,000 were “the obvious motive”.
The judge said that he took the view that Hooper had been “unscrupulously dishonest” and had buried his head in the sand.
Karl Scholz, prosecuting, said one victim, then 83 but now aged 86, had lost £150.
The second victim, 80 at the time but now 83, had lost £11,720 over a six month period when the defendant withdrew cash from his account.
Kim Halsall, defending, said her client was aware the court would be considering immediate custody, but suggested that it could be suspended.
“He appreciates it is a breach of a position of trust by a support worker against two elderly people who relied upon him,” she said.
She said that there had been a significant delay in the case, the trial had been adjourned two or three times, and it had been hanging over him far longer than it ought to have been
see-http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/160983/oap-support-worker-from-buckley-used-pension-book-to-steal-12-000-from-man.aspx
A SUPPORT worker who helped care for the elderly has been jailed for three years after a court heard how he defrauded two pensioners out of money.
Former soldier Robert Hooper, 46, had taken nearly £12,000 from one victim which virtually wiped out his savings.
Hooper, of Brunswick Road, Buckley, denied fraud while working in the Rhyl area as a support worker for Clwyd Alyn Housing Association back in 2012 and 2013.
But he was convicted at an earlier trial at Caernarfon Crown Court.
A judge said it was “unscrupulous dishonesty” by a man in debt who had buried his head in the sand.
The Recorder Duncan Bould, sitting at Mold Crown Court yesterday, said the defendant’s discharge papers from the armed services described him as reliable and trustworthy which no doubt enabled him to obtain work as a support worker.
“You were placed in a position of great trust so far as the individuals with whom you dealt was concerned,” he said.
His victims were vulnerable and it was clear they held the defendant in the highest regard.
“They trusted you implicitly with their finances.”
But he had breached their trust by stealing from both of them and the judge said he had been convicted on overwhelming evidence.
He had stolen a modest amount from his first victim and then went on to hoodwink him into believing he might have made an error in a transaction that took place.
The second victim who lost £12,000 had told how he trusted the defendant implicitly, believed he was such a nice man and never dreamt that anything like that would happen.
“His trust in you was complete,” Mr Bould said.
He handed the defendant his pension book and card which enabled him to have control over his finances.
Over a significant period he stole on a weekly basis a total of £12,000.
“This was one of the most unpleasant breach of trust cases imaginable,” he explained.
The defendant knew the victim had suffered a stroke and he was not sure what had happened to his own money.
There was little mitigation. He could have no credit for admissions or a guilty plea, and he still did not recognise he was responsible for the frauds he had been convicted of.
In evidence the defendant said his debts were manageable but the judge said that the debts of some £40,000 were “the obvious motive”.
The judge said that he took the view that Hooper had been “unscrupulously dishonest” and had buried his head in the sand.
Karl Scholz, prosecuting, said one victim, then 83 but now aged 86, had lost £150.
The second victim, 80 at the time but now 83, had lost £11,720 over a six month period when the defendant withdrew cash from his account.
Kim Halsall, defending, said her client was aware the court would be considering immediate custody, but suggested that it could be suspended.
“He appreciates it is a breach of a position of trust by a support worker against two elderly people who relied upon him,” she said.
She said that there had been a significant delay in the case, the trial had been adjourned two or three times, and it had been hanging over him far longer than it ought to have been
see-http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/160983/oap-support-worker-from-buckley-used-pension-book-to-steal-12-000-from-man.aspx
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