Carer stole £6,200 from cerebral palsy sufferer, 59, with brain damage
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Portsmouth Crown Court heard Rebecca Glossop took over caring for her boyfriend’s 59-year-old mother following the death of the victim’s husband.
While caring for the victim the 27-year-old had access to her online bank account and should have been periodically telling her the balance, prosecutor Alison Ginn said.
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Hide AdBut instead unemployed Glossop, 27, took £6,288 over a period of four months in 86 transactions of between £5 and £200.
Mum-of-two Glossop, who wept in the dock throughout the hearing, was spared jail and handed a 12-month jail term suspended for two years after admitting theft.
Her crimes were only uncovered when the victim’s son, Colin Fifield, visited his mother to find she was in a ‘low mood’ and had been at a meeting at the bank about being overdrawn.
Mr Fifield confronted Glossop but she ‘went to the lavatory and didn’t come out for some time’. When she emerged she denied her crime but admitted she had ‘borrowed some money, probably a couple of thousand’.
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Hide AdThe victim’s son, who is still in a relationship with the defendant, then threw Glossop out.
In a statement her devastated victim said: ‘I’m not happy my money has been taken.
‘It’s caused a lot of hassle, I don’t want this happening to me again.’
Ms Ginn said: ‘When this defendant was confronted about taking money by Colin Fifield she called [the victim] a liar.
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Hide Ad‘The theft had a terrible effect on [the victim], she’s been very upset. She hadn’t slept, she had to take sleeping tablets from the doctor.’
The victim, who was cared for by Glossop, of Swanmore Road, Havant, between April and July in 2018, no longer talks to her two sons, the court heard.
In a police interview Glossop denied taking the cash but in a later interview said the victim gave her permission, and that she had not been paid for a period.
Sentencing, judge William Ashworth said: ‘This for the court is a very difficult sentencing exercise because there’s no doubt in my mind that the only appropriate sentence for stealing money from somebody with cerebral palsy whose brain function is reduced by 28 per cent, and you’re caring for her, is an immediate custodial sentence.
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Hide Ad‘But I have to apply the law faithfully and the law provides a discretion to the court where there are factors when a sentence could be suspended.’
Probation reported Glossop was remorseful. The judge told her he could suspend the jail term to maintain the ‘prospect of your relationship with your children remaining stable and potentially improving’.
Unemployed Glossop does not live with the children but often helps them.
She must complete 200 hours’ unpaid work, 25 days’ rehabilitation activities and the probation women’s programme.
Costs of £400 will be deducted from her benefits.