Woman ordered to pay back full £3k she took from elderly victim

A woman employed as a carer to a vulnerable lady in her 80s used her patient’s bank card to withdraw more than £3,000 in cash without her consent – and she has now been ordered by the courts to pay back the full amount she stole.

Christie Lovegrove, 21, of Cross Street, Lincoln, made 13 trips to ATMs to fraudulently withdraw money from the victim’s account over the course of a month last year.

Lovegrove had been welcomed into the home as an employee to provide care for the victim, who suffered from dementia and poor physical health which made her house-bound. Lovegrove was given the victim’s bank card to use as a contactless payment to buy household items and food on her victim’s behalf as part of her caring duties.

The alarm was raised by the woman’s daughter, who noticed unusual activity on a bank statement and contacted the carer’s employer, DS Care at Home, which confirmed Lovegrove had been on duty on all of the fraudulent transaction dates. Lovegrove acted alone and there is no suggestion of any malpractice by the firm, which cooperated fully with the investigation.

Investigations revealed that multiple withdrawals from ATMs had taken place in December 2022. Most were for £250 cash, and included an additional £1.99 transaction fee.

In total, the 87-year-old victim was defrauded by £3,023.

The case was investigated by PC Kat Braithwaite from the Lincoln Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT). “I am very satisfied that Lovegrove pleaded guilty to these offences. Despite claiming to have had a close relationship with the victim, she showed no emotion when she was told the impact the crime had had on the victim. The victim and her family were left very distressed at the discovery of these crimes and are still recovering now from the mis-trust they have experienced. 

“I thank the victim’s family and the staff from DS Care for their support and co-operation throughout this investigation, which has led to a positive result at court today. Offenders who use their position of trust are particularly despicable, and we will always do all we can to investigate their crimes and help bring some closure to the victims affected.”

Lovegrove was charged with fraud by false representation. She initially pleaded not guilty, but change her plea to guilty on the first day of trial at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court today (Monday, 26 June

She has been ordered to pay back the full amount plus costs, totalling £3,470, with payments to be deducted monthly.   

She has also been sentenced to 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirement (known as RAR) and will be under the probation service for the next 12 months. The main purpose of a RAR is to secure someone’s rehabilitation, restoring them to a purposeful life in which they do not reoffend.