Plymouth care home boss who stole from patients jailed

A FORMER care home manager squandered the savings of elderly dementia sufferers to feed an addiction to online bingo.

Jennie Preston of Stone Barton Close, Plympton, was jailed at Plymouth Crown Court yesterday after previously admitting eight counts of theft and one of false accounting.

The married 51-year-old, used her position as manager at Dewi Sant Residential Home, Mannamead, to befriend her vulnerable victims, building up their trust before stealing more than £90,000.

Four residents were duped into parting with their cash, either by writing cheques for care home fees direct to Preston or by the defendant withdrawing money from their personal bank accounts.

Judge Paul Darlow said Preston had been put in a position of trust.

“You were the person to whom they look to protect themselves and their relatives in their twilight years,” he said.

“It is an exacerbate feature that the money wasn’t stolen to provide you with necessities of life but so that you could gamble online with the money that they had, during the course or their lives, hard earned.”

The court heard that the thefts began in April 2008 and stopped in June 2010. In that time, she took a total of £90,334.

One victim alone, who was seen to be favoured by Preston, was scammed out of £41,770. She also raided the woman’s savings account, leaving it completely empty of cash.

The victim would write her care home cheque payments out to Preston, who would then pay them directly into her own account.

“It wasn’t just in that way she stole from her,” said prosecutor Jo Martin.

“She also had access to her bank cards. She (Preston) would withdraw small amounts of money so the resident could get items like clothes but she abused that trust and withdrew large sums of money over a period of time.”

In her defence the court heard that the stress of work had caused Preston to turn to online bingo websites.

Describing it as a “venomous” addiction, Andrew Maitland said: “It is clear that sums as great as £5,000 a day were being spent by her.

“This addiction has cost her and her victims a very, very considerable sum of money.”

And he said although she can’t be certain that the “demons do not rest within her” she has not succumbed to gambling since October 4 last year – the day she was arrested.

The court also heard that every penny stolen had “gone down the tube of online bingo” and there is nothing that can be recovered with Preston unable to pay anything back.

Judge Darlow sentenced her to serve 40 months concurrent for each of the counts with half in jail and half on licence.