Fraudster who stole nearly £8k from 94-year-old pensioner suffers panic attack on court date

A care worker who stole almost £8,000 from a 94-year-old pensioner had a panic attack before she was due to be sentenced.

Lorraine Howell pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position when employed as an agency worker.

She took £7,630 from the pensioner, who has since died.

The 58-year-old visited the woman outside of work hours as well as on sick leave “in breach of company policy.”

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Howell was due to be sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on July 23, having admitted to stealing the money between September 8 and October 13 last year.

However, she did not show for her court hearing.

Recorder Nicole Fitches was told that Howell, of Sheffield Road, Wymondham, had been taken to hospital by ambulance after suffering a panic attack.

Her hearing was then adjourned until September 9.

It comes just days after a fraudster who swindled £11.4million from 115 elderly victims through a decade-long investment scam has been sentenced to eight years behind bars.

Steven Long, 59, of Mead Drive, Kesgrave, Suffolk, was jailed yesterday after he admitted two counts of fraud by abuse of position at Southwark Crown Court.

The conman operated multiple businesses under the Universal Wealth Preservation banner between 2008 and 2018, targeting pensioners across England with false promises of financial security.

Long distributed marketing materials door-to-door throughout Kent, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, inviting potential clients to attend slick presentations at hotels nationwide.

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Thousands signed up for services including trusts, wills and Lasting Power of Attorney arrangements, unaware their savings would be funnelled into risky overseas ventures without their knowledge or approval.

Many of those who fell victim were elderly or approaching retirement, drawn in by assurances of secure, high-yield investments placed in what Long described as ring-fenced, risk-free trusts.

Instead, their life savings were channelled into unsustainable high-risk schemes overseas without any consent. As the business model unravelled, clients found themselves locked out of their own funds.

In several instances, money earmarked for care home fees vanished entirely, with some individuals losing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Prosecutor Charlene Sumnall told the court the victims were "overwhelmingly not wealthy people" but rather "careful, responsible people who had worked tirelessly hard over years to build up, often modest but extremely significant, capital."

She added that their age meant they simply did not have enough time remaining to recover what had been stolen from them.

While his victims faced financial devastation, Long bankrolled an extravagant lifestyle with their stolen funds.

The court heard he resided in a succession of expensive rental properties, boasting that one had previously belonged to a Premier League footballer.

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