The manager of a care home has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for forging the will of an elderly woman who lived in the home.
The woman had moved into the home in 2020 after becoming ill. She was described by the judge as ‘particularly vulnerable, physically frail and very isolated’. The manager had taken deliberate steps to stop her from speaking to her cousin, her only surviving relative, on the phone.
She died in 2021, at the age of 85. The manager and the home’s two owners then created a fake will in an attempt to steal her £175,000 estate. The will purported to leave 50 per cent of her estate to the manager and 25 per cent to one of the owners.
After the cousin reported her suspicions to the Care Quality Commission, an investigation was conducted by Trading Standards, which then prosecuted the case. The manager and the owners were convicted of fraud.
The judge said that he was sure the manager was the driving force behind the creation of the forged will. She was also found guilty of using the woman’s bank card to steal £6,000.