OAP theft carer repays victim

The judge said Glenys Harwick acted deliberately and cynically

A social worker who fleeced an 82-year-old woman of her savings and sold her house, has paid more than £80,000 to her victim.

Former Denbighshire social worker Glenys Margaret Hardwick, 57, was jailed in November 2005 for three years and three months after admitting theft.

A judge later ordered Hardwick, from Denbigh, to repay all the money, plus compensation, to Dorothy Thomas.

Mold Crown Court heard on Thursday how Hardwick has now paid all the money.

During sentencing in November, Judge Huw Daniel said Hardwick was guilty of a "gross breach of trust" when looking after Miss Thomas, who suffered from dementia.

Hardwick admitted 10 charges of theft, of more than £64,000 from Miss Thomas.

The judge said: "What you did was to deliberately plan to take advantage of an old lady who could not look after herself."

A hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act was held in January, when judge Daniel made a confiscation order of £67,599, and ordered Hardwick to pay £13,517 compensation.

But in a final hearing at Mold Crown Court on Thursday, prosecutor Steven Everett told judge Daniel the money had been paid.

The judge discharged a restraining order which had previously been placed on Hardwick and her husband's finances until the case was concluded.

The original trial heard how Hardwick - who was sacked by Denbighshire Council - had been instructed to obtain a court order to protect Miss Thomas' finances.

But she got power of attorney over the pensioner's affairs herself.

Between June 2003 and March 2004 she withdrew on average £250 a week from the elderly woman's accounts, put her home for sale, and then withdrew the proceeds.

The court was told that she rarely visited Miss Thomas and did not even send her a Christmas card.

It was deliberate, it was cynical, it was a gross breach of trust and a deliberately set-up fraud Judge Huw Daniel at the trial

When challenged, Hardwick claimed Miss Thomas was a personal friend who she had known as a child.

Retired secretary Miss Thomas, formerly of Gwyddelwern near Corwen, now lives at a nursing home near Denbigh.

Hardwick claimed that the withdrawals had been authorised by Miss Thomas so she could make charitable donations.

But Miss Thomas did not know what was happening.

Previous conviction

Hardwick, known as Dennie Hardwick, told how she had used the cash as gifts to support her family.

But neither her husband - described as an honest man - or her family, knew anything about the thefts.

Hardwick also had a previous conviction for theft at Sheffield in 1981 when she stole a stamp collection owned by a client when she was employed as a care worker.

Seven years later, she qualified as a social worker and joined the old Clwyd County Council.

But she failed to disclose the conviction and checks back then did not include previous convictions.