A trusted carer who plundered the £25,000 savings of an 86-year-old client and splashed cash, often daily, using online bingo gambling sites has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Rachael Louise Sermon, 34, got to know Colin Gosney in early 2019 while helping to clean a caravan in which he lived with his former partner.
As self-employed carer Sermon began working for the late Mr Gosney after he moved into sheltered accommodation, she was trusted with access to his bank card, PIN and cheque books, and given money to pay for food shopping.
But almost immediately she began stealing from the pensioner, her thefts continuing even after he was admitted to hospital.
After being discharged, he was visited by a social worker who told him of suspicions transactions, that his bank account had been emptied and a £5,000 overdraft maxed out.
Cheques for up to £1,500 had also been cashed by Sermon, a number of others bounced and she made a raft of ATM withdrawals.
Mr Gosney – who died in September last year – hadn’t seen recent bank statements, one of which was found ripped up in his flat and listed gambling transactions.
There were 159 separate and often daily deposits made by Sermon to gambling sites, including Lucky Pants Bingo.
Tim Evans, prosecuting, told Carlisle Crown Court that Mr Gosney was wholly unaware of Sermon’s deceit.
“The bank suggested that they had tried to contact him about the plundering of his account but could not do so – that because of his hospitalisation,” said Mr Evans.
Sermon, of Wasdale Close, Whitehaven, admitted theft and the attempted theft of £8,420 for occasions when there were insufficient funds.
She confessed she started stealing cash from him almost immediately, accepted full responsibility for her offending and spoke of being in the grip of a gambling addiction she had since overcome.
“Miss Sermon is nothing short of mortified by her actions,” said Anna Chestnutt, defending.
“She is genuinely remorseful.”
Sermon, a mum-of-two, was sentenced this morning by Recorder Neville Biddle, who read background material and supportive character references, and heard of her family circumstances.
As a result Recorder Biddle concluded he was just able to suspend a 18-month jail term for two years but said she had avoided prison by the skin of her teeth.
Sermon must complete a six-month night-time curfew, 80 hours’ unpaid work and a rehabilitation requirement.
The judge told her: “What you did, over the course of that length of time, was act in a gross breach of trust against an old man who relied on you and trusted you to look after him.”
