A "manipulative" mum has avoided jail after she conned an elderly couple with dementia out of £25,000.
Lyndsey Mcgivern stole from Derek and Valerie Haynes after they were moved into care homes due to concerns over their health and mental capacity.
Mcgivern, of Nixon Avenue, Ramsgate, engaged in a nine-month campaign, which involved regular withdrawals of large sums of cash and grocery purchases at local shops totalling thousands of pounds.
The 45-year-old, who at one point could be seen crying in the dock at Canterbury Crown Court, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position, namely by using their bank card without authority, between April 4, 2024, and January 31, 2025.
The court heard how Derek and Valerie Haynes were "exceptionally vulnerable" with advanced dementia and, by 2024, had "lost the capacity" to manage their own affairs.
Kent County Council became more and more involved in the affairs of the couple, with social services observing Mcgivern being involved in their care at their matrimonial home in December 2023.
Prosecutor Kieran Brand: "She presented herself as an informal carer, living nearby and helping with their shopping and everyday tasks.
"It was noticed that they trusted her to a significant degree and both would often refuse assistance from others but accept it from the defendant."
However, once they were placed in care, KCC began the process of obtaining deputyship and details of their finances, which is where they first discovered Mcgivern's "disgraceful" fraud.
Mr Brand told the court: "Bank statements revealed extensive spending, cash withdrawals and transactions long after Mr and Mrs Haynes had been moved into care," said the prosecutor.
"Their bank account became overdrawn and direct debits were returned unpaid. Neither of them could have undertaken the various transactions as they lacked the physical opportunity and mental capacity to do so, and any absence from their care homes would have been recorded.
"The accounts revealed a prolonged pattern of expenditure from April 2024, the time they went into care, to January 2025, when the anomalies were discovered."
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The court heard how there were large cash withdrawals, as well as transactions conducted in local businesses in Ramsgate, including the North Star off-licence, Tesco and Asda.
Mr Brand said: "On the face of it, [the money was spent on] everyday living expenses."
However, he added that the defendant also made regular cash withdrawals up to the daily limit of £250, with the total identified loss hitting just above £25,237.
He said: "Similarly, at the same time, the banking evidence showed that spending went down from her own account, save for £4,000 with gambling websites."
Detailing how she came to be arrested, Mr Brand said: "Police established links between the defendant and the use of the victims' finances, one example being a £20 purchase from Uber Eats which was linked to her Uber Eats account.
The paperwork included Mr Haynes's passport, Mrs Haynes's NHS card, birth certificates, marriage certificate, land registry certificate, property deeds and other documents relating to ownership of their home address."
When Mcgivern was interviewed by police, she repeatedly answered "no comment".
While one of the victims had since died, the other was said by Mr Brand to be "completely unaware" of the defendant's deception.
Representing her, Dale Beeson said she had known the couple for many years, became an acquaintance and then took on a more caring role.
He said: "She is fully aware of the predicament she has put herself in and is extremely remorseful for her actions...This offence was opportunistic at the outset, there was a genuine existing relationship with them, and it went slightly sour. She was quite shocked once the final total was presented to her."
Mr Beeson argued his client's responsibilities as a mother, as well as her history of difficulties, including an abusive relationship, should result in a community-based punishment was a "just and proportionate" way of dealing with the offence.
Judge Simon Taylor KC accepted the prosecution had not proven "to the criminal standard" that Mcgivern had deliberately targeted Mr and Mrs Haynes' vulnerability.
He said: "I will accept your position that you began your contact with them on a benevolent basis to assist them and then it deteriorated into dishonest, fraudulent, manipulative and, frankly, disgraceful behaviour."
The judge continued: "It is plain to me, and it is the driver behind the course I am taking, that people who depend upon you will be adversely affected by an immediate custodial sentence.
"That is a fact which weighs very heavily with me in this case. I am just about persuaded that I can sentence you adequately in the community."But this case is close as possible to crossing that [custody] threshold."You haven't saved yourself from a prison sentence. You have been saved by your family commitments."
She was sentenced to one year and 10 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 300 hours' unpaid work, the maximum that can be imposed, up to 25 rehabilitation activity requirements and a mental health treatment requirement.
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