Carer convicted of £20,000 theft

An ex-carer from Bedfordshire convicted of stealing almost £20,000 from a vulnerable client has been told to expect jail when sentenced next month.

Christine Townsend, 54, was convicted at Luton Crown Court of two charges of theft from April 2004.

At the time she was June Marden's carer in Windsor Road, Sandy.

Judge Andrew Bright QC said: "You have been convicted of serious offences and... the likelihood is that a custodial sentence will follow."

When Townsend looked after Mrs Marden, who died in January aged 81, she had arthritis, anxiety and the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

Townsend, of New Road, Clifton, pleaded not guilty to two charges of theft relating to £19,707 that Mrs Marden withdrew from two accounts at a Biggleswade bank.

The carer claimed the pensioner had insisted she had the money to spend on "the wedding of a lifetime".

Cheques handed over

Prosecutor Andrew Evans said the money came to light when Miss Townsend declared herself bankrupt in January 2005 and an insolvency examiner discovered the existence of an undeclared building society account with a balance of £27,000.

The Official Receiver is still in possession of the stolen money.

Townsend appeared in the dock and said: "I became her principal carer but also her friend. We became extremely close, we just clicked with each other.

"I told her about my partner and about having the wedding of a lifetime to start completely afresh.

"I would visit her out of hours at her request. I did not even know she had any building society accounts.

"I took her to Biggleswade in my spare time. She went to the counter on her own and I sat down and waited for her. Outside she handed me two cheques made out in my name. It was a large amount of money."

She said she knew it was against her employer's rules to accept gifts, but said she was visiting her in her own time when the money was handed over.

Judge Bright adjourned sentence for the preparation of reports.