A former carer “dishonestly abused her posistion” when she ordered more than £6,000 worth of items on Amazon using a patient’s bank details.
Gemma Isbell, 34, of Hill Road, Ingoldisthorpe admitted to the offence of fraud by abuse of posistion at Lynn’s Magistrates’ Court on Thursday – where she avoided going to prison.
Crown prosecutor Abdul Khan said that between the dates of October 2021 to October 2022, Isbell was using the bank details of an elderly woman she looked after in Lynn to purchase a number of items on the online shopping platform Amazon.
The items valued to the total of £6,169.62 which were later found kept in her garage un-boxed.
Mr Khan described the case as “unusual” due to Isbell handing herself in to the police.
“She has been sensible enough to save up the £6,000 for transfer since being sentenced,” said Mr Khan.
In mitigation, Rob New said her behaviour was “out of character” and explained that Isbell was in a abusive relationship at the time.
Mr New said: “She’s a young lady who gave all of her life to her then employment.
“She cared for elderly people for three to four years and had a close relationship with the victim.
“The defendant was in an abusive relationship which was violent and cohersive.”
Mr New explained that at the time of the offence, Isbell didn’t have acess to her own money and kept everything she ordered sealed in boxes in her garage.
He added: “The relationship ending lifted the scales from her eyes and the first thing she did is she contacted the police.
“There wasn’t a complaint from the victim.”
It was explained in court that Isbell had the help from her family to raise the £6,169.62 to compensate the victim.
Isbell lost her job as a carer due to the offence.
A presentence report was carried out by the probation service to decide how best to sentence Isbell.
Probation officer Lewis Spicer said: “We discussed that at the time she had an altered sense of right from wrong.”
He also mentioned that Isbell is a single mother to a young child and that going to prison would have a negative impact on that child.
Magistrates decided to give Isbell a 16 week suspended sentence – meaning she won’t go to prison, but if she re-offends, she will be sent to custody.
That suspended sentence will last for a duration of 18 months.
On top of that, she was ordered to pay £6,169.62 in compensation to the victim as well as paying a victim surcharge of £128 and court costs of £145.
