A CARER stole more than £30,000 from a victim she was meant to be caring for, leaving him without heating, electricity, or food during the pandemic.

Rachel Dawes helped herself to thousands of pounds from the 'vulnerable' victim’s bank account over a three-year period, fraudulently paying for her Netflix account, Amazon purchases, furniture, betting accounts and even making indulgent purchases at the jewellery shop Pandora.

The 43-year-old of Kingsway South, Latchford, appeared before Liverpool Crown Court facing one charge of fraud by position of power.

Prosecuting, Ben Stanley told the courts that Dawes was a care worker for Sage Care Limited and was caring for the victim, a 61-year-old man with learning difficulties, visiting his home in Warrington several times a week from September 2017 through until March 6, 2021.

Her caring duties would consist of assisting him with general day-to-day tasks and house maintenance including keeping his electricity meter topped up with money and heating paid, as well as ensuring he had money in his account to carry out food shops and making sure his phone bills and other bills were paid.

Dawes was initially suspended from her work at Sage Limited on March 21, 2021, after it was discovered that she had been allowing clients to visit her at her home address – something that was against protocol.

She had also received a formal warning prior to this for trying to charge the victim for petrol money.

This led to another temporary carer being assigned to the complainant.

When that carer first went to visit the complainant in March, she was immediately alarmed by the state his house had been left in.

She reported there being only 38p left on the electricity meter and no food left in the fridge for him to eat.

A court heard how when she took him to do a food shop, she found there was not enough funds left in the account to pay for food, which unbeknown to the man, had been cleared by Dawes that month.

The carer returned to the man's home to find countless unopened bills, some hidden beneath the carpet and when asked why he had not opened them he responded that Dawes would ‘shout at him’ if he did.

Once opened, these bills provided an insight into the shocking fraudulent payments that had been made on his account at the hands of his ‘trusted’ carer.

A police investigation led them to the discovery that Dawes had not only been neglecting her caring responsibilities, leaving the victim with no electricity or heating and sometimes no food during what was at the time the Covid pandemic, but she also had full access to the victim’s money and was making regular payments for her own benefit.

Mr Stanley detailed to the court the extent of the defendant’s spending which included 53 payments to her personal Amazon account, four Argos purchases, purchases to Bright House which included buying a sofa, washing machine and TV. Two payments to her car insurance, 16 payments to Ladbrokes, further purchases to a pharmacy, Ebay and Paypal and lastly two £100 purchases at the jewellery shop Pandora.

Her callous spending amounted to the sum of £30,765.30.

A concerned neighbour living on the same street as the complainant issued a complaint to social services after he had come to her door one day looking for help exclaiming, he was ‘freezing’ and had ‘no electricity or gas’ during the cold month of November.

Dawes had drained the majority of money from his account and had not topped up his electricity meter leaving him in a vulnerable state.

The following week after this incident, the same neighbour received another knock at the door by the complainant who was again asking for help as he was hungry had no food to eat.

At the time his family lived in Scotland and lockdown restrictions were in place which meant they could only contact the complainant by telephone. Their concerns grew when his phone was uncontactable, this being because there had been no money left in his account to pay his phone bill.

Dawes, who has been a carer since the age of 21, was interviewed by police on November 18, 2021.

Mr Stanley said: “She admitted to using his money to pay for her shopping when he was with her and said that he probably did not know what she was doing.

“She admitted to taking his card home with her and starting up online banking on it which he had no access to. She said it was out of desperation.”

A victim personal statement was read out to court which stated how the victim’s family, due to him being a vulnerable adult, had ‘relied on her to support him during covid’.

The family described how the complainant was left an ‘angry, confused and frustrated man’.

“He liked Rachel and missed her being a constant figure in his life. This situation should never have been allowed to happen.”

They added that the man now has a new carer and has his life back on track.

Defending, Carmel Wilde said: “We all agree that this is a sickening and despicable offence.

“She has described being disgusted with herself.”

Ms Wilde added that the mother-of-two is a carer for her husband and was suffering from depression after the loss of her mother a few years prior to these events.

“She discovered £21,000 of her mother’s debts brought out in her name.”

Concluding the case, Honour judge Katherine Pierpoint addressed the defendant before sentencing in relation to how the offending had effected the victim.

“He was left in a very difficult financial state. It’s not just the physical effects this offending has on people.

“He was left a confused, angry and frustrated man. Someone that he trusted and liked has taken advantage of him in possibly the worst way.

“He was left on one occasion without heating, light, food or a telephone.

“This was an abuse of position of trust.”

Judge Pierpoint served the defendant an immediate prison sentence of 32-months and issued a five-year restraining order with the conditions being not to contact the victim or go near his address in Warrington.