Heartless Corby hospital carer burgled her elderly patients' homes

She knew the people she was caring for had empty houses - so she stole their keys and raided them
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A heartless hospital worker burgled the homes of two elderly patients she was supposed to be looking after.

Leanne Jones stole bank cards and keys from her victims while they were inpatients at Corby Community Hospital - before taking jewellery and cashing cheques worth thousands after finding out where they lived.

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The 32-year-old, formerly of King Street in Kettering, wiped tears from her eyes as her despicable actions landed her with a prison sentence.

Leanne Jones has been jailed.Leanne Jones has been jailed.
Leanne Jones has been jailed.

Yesterday (Thursday) Northampton Crown Court heard one of her victims was a 74-year-old Corby woman, who has since died. She had been at the Cottingham Road complex since July 2019 and her house was empty.

In September her daughter looked at her bank accounts and found various transactions which she believed were fraudulent.

Prosecuting, Ben Gow said: "She phoned the hospital and asked staff to check whether her mother's bank cards were there and was informed that they were missing, along with her house keys."

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When she went to check on her house she saw items had been moved around and sentimental jewellery was missing.

But there was no sign of forced entry - because Jones had stolen her house key to burgle her.

She then sold off several items of jewellery to Cash Converters in Silver Street, Kettering. Fortunately everything apart from one ring was still there when police visited.

The victim's bank card had also been authorised for potential phone contracts and police investigated 20 transactions totalling £241.82 made between August 23 and September 2.

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They seized CCTV from Tesco and Aldi which showed the healthcare assistant was responsible.

Her second victim was an 86-year-old Kettering man who was an inpatient after suffering a fall.

Just before he was discharged he noticed his bank cards and keys were missing and he then visited his bank.

He was told three cheques, each worth £2,000, had been cashed from his account and when he got home realised his cheque book was missing.

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Jones had burgled him while he was in hospital and helped herself to cheques to deposit cash into her own account.

Mr Gow said: "She said she originally believed it wouldn't work, but when it did work she then took that opportunity to cash two further cheques."

She also stole a pink cash tin and used his bank card for four transactions of £300 each in four consecutive days in September 2019.

When she was searched police found two bank cards in her second victim's name, torn up bank statements and a torn up cheque book.

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She admitted everything when interviewed by police and later pleaded guilty to two burglaries, four counts of fraud and possession of criminal property before magistrates.

Jones, who wore a black top and surgical face mask in the dock, had used the cash to pay thousands in up-front rent payments to an estate agent and lost the rest to bookmakers because of a "substantial gambling" problem.

She had been a carer for almost 10 years.

Mitigating, Liam Muir urged Recorder Jacob Hallam QC to consider suspending any prison sentence he imposed to give her a chance to rehabilitate.

He said: "There is real remorse in this case.

"This woman is disgusted by her actions."

But the recorder told Jones she had preyed on her victims and sent her straight to prison.

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He said: "They needed to be able to trust many people, and one of those people was you.

"You abused the trust they placed in you and indeed that their family, the broader community and your employers and colleagues placed in you in the most appalling way.

"You saw them as opportunities to get money."

Jones was jailed for a total of total of three years and two months.

She will serve half in custody and remainder on licence.

There will be no proceeds of crime hearings to try and recoup the money she stole.

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A spokesman for Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Corby Community Hospital, said: “Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides a number of services across the county. The safety and safeguarding of patients and service users is at the forefront of its service delivery.

"As a trust we constantly strive to provide outstanding care and meet the needs of our services users.

"To enable this there are a number of processes in place which enable staff, patients, service users and carers to raise concerns confidentially.

"Any matters raised are reviewed by senior staff, with the appropriate action taken where required, as was taken in this case.”

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