Fraud cash paid back by Inverness care worker
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A DISHONEST care worker has repaid almost £4000 she illegally took to buy more than two years of shopping by using a 76-year-old woman’s bank details.
This week it was revealed that the family of 55-year-old Shirley Cameron of Highfield Avenue, Inverness had handed over a cheque to Inverness Sheriff Court to keep their relative out of jail.
Cameron had previously pleaded guilty to forming a fraudulent scheme to obtain almost £4000 worth of goods by fraud and theft between February 1, 2017 and July 17, 2019.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson deferred sentence several times to enable Cameron to find the funds. After being told by defence solicitor Laura-Jane MacFarlane that a cheque had been handed over, the sheriff decided to sentence Cameron to 200 hours of unpaid work, placed her under one year supervision and ordered her to take part in a Woman’s Offender programme.
She had described the offence as “a gross breach of trust”.
Mrs MacFarlane said: “My client is deeply ashamed of this.”
Fiscal depute David Morton earlier told the court that the victim had learning disabilities. He added that she was in the Cheshire Care Home in Ness Walk for more than 20 years and Cameron was her key worker.
Mr Morton told the court the bank details were entered online on the Tesco website.
He said that after Cameron left, other staff at Cheshire tried to assist getting the resident her weekly shopping.
“The card was declined for the first time and as it had never happened before, an investigation was launched.”
Cameron admitted forming a fraudulent scheme to obtain goods by pretending to Tesco at Eastfield Way, Inverness, that she was authorised to buy goods using the bank details of a resident of the Cheshire Care Home where she was employed as a care practitioner, and obtained £3919.95 of goods by fraud and theft.
A compensation order for the sum was also imposed until the cheque cleared.
