Sam Hall, Press Association
A nurse who took £770,000 from a “vulnerable and lonely” 99-year-old woman and spent the money on vehicles and home improvements has been struck off.
Rebecca Burwood exploited the elderly woman between 2017 and 2023 while working as deputy manager at Bryn Yr Haul Care Home in Mold, north Wales, a tribunal found.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council fitness to practise committee heard Ms Burwood used “manipulation and coercion to acquire funds” from the woman.
It heard that there was evidence showing money had been used to pay for “house improvements, utility bills and council tax”, while allegations were made that some funds were used to pay for personal cosmetic surgery.
The elderly woman, who did not have any family, transferred ownership of her house, valued at £400,000, prior to Ms Burwood entering Bryn Yr Haul Care Home in 2018.
The pensioner was “vulnerable and lonely” following a fall, relying on Ms Burwood for friendship and social contact, the panel heard.
On May 5 2018, Ms Burwood became the woman’s Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) for property and financial affairs, allegedly doing so without telling anyone else at the care home.
Evidence showed more than £370,000 left the woman’s bank account over five years, including £160,000 in large cash withdrawals from ATMs.
Ms Burwood persuaded the woman to pay £20,000 for a car and £9,000 for a campervan, claiming the vehicles would allow them to go on days out together.
Emotional blackmail
The committee found Ms Burwood used “emotional blackmail” by telling her she would not be able to take her for days out if she did not have access to her money, adding she was “withdrawing large sums of money almost daily” from her bank account.
The woman’s bank account was subsequently frozen over concerns about spending, but Ms Burwood tried to have the restrictions lifted and took her to a bank branch.
Bank staff described Ms Burwood as “almost blackmailing” the woman and said she had told the pensioner to ask for the accounts to be unlocked.
The woman’s bank referred the matter to North Wales Police, which launched an investigation.
After investigating, the force took no further action as the woman, who has since died, did not want to make a complaint.
The committee heard that the woman regarded Ms Burwood as a friend and believed she had “learned from her mistakes”, however, had told safeguarding staff she was shocked and disappointed by the amount that had been spent from her account.
In written statements to the panel, Ms Burwood said: “I now recognise that, even where a gift is offered voluntarily or with good intentions, as was the case here for me, accepting anything beyond a trivial token can compromise, or appear to compromise, professional judgment.
“(The elderly woman) was not only someone I later encountered in a professional context, but someone I had known for many years and came to see as a dear friend and grandmother-type figure.
“I had no understanding of the scope of an LPA and now recognise that this was a major failing on my part.”
‘Deplorable’
In its ruling, the nursing panel said Ms Burwood’s actions were “deplorable and a disgrace to the profession”.
The committee said although Ms Burwood said the woman had approved of the gift of her assets including her home and substantial sums of money to her, this was undermined by evidence demonstrating she was “shocked and disappointed at the amount of money being spent”.
It added that it was “improbable” the woman would have “knowingly and willingly given away her home and substantial sums of money leaving her with only a modest amount of cash and the risk of not being able to fund her own care”.
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