Nurse (43) caught stealing from frail pensioners

Feb 18 2010 by Debbie Hall, West Lothian Courier

A CALLOUS nurse who stole from frail pensioners while they were in hospital has been jailed.

Brazen nursing assistant Mary Mitchell was supposed to be looking after the elderly patients on her ward, but instead she took bank cards and PIN numbers from their lockers and stole their money.

This week the 43-year-old was jailed for four months by a sheriff who told her she had taken advantage of vulnerable people.

And staff at St John’s Hospital, where Mitchell worked on medical ward 15, said they had been appalled by her crime.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard that Mitchell, who was known as Myra in the hospital, had admitted stealing bank cards from two patients and a total of £3120 from another three between April 2007 and October 2008.

She was caught when the niece of one of her victims realised her aunt’s credit card had been used several times while she was in hospital and a police investigation revealed Mitchell had been stealing for 18 months.

Staff hadn’t reported the theft in 2007 to police at the time and it wasn’t discovered until later that Mitchell was responsible.

Fiscal depute Claire Martin told the court that Mitchell, who lives at 165 Parkhead Avenue, Edinburgh, first stole two bank cards from the locker of an 81-year-old man on April 9, 2007.

On April 24, 2008, a 77-year-old patient was discharged from ward 15, where Mitchell worked, and discovered her bank card was missing from her purse, where she also kept a piece of paper with her PIN number written down. Mitchell used the card to withdraw £400.

On July 5, 2008, an 80-year-old patient was admitted to Mitchell’s ward and placed his wallet containing his bank card and PIN number on top of his bedside cabinet.

The next day he noticed the card was missing and reported this to staff, but it wasn’t found and the patient cancelled it – but not before Mitchell had withdrawn £200 from an ATM in the hospital.

Then, on 22 July, 2008, a 67 year-old-woman was admitted to ward 15 and her purse containing her credit card and PIN number were placed in her bedside cabinet.

Mitchell used that patient’s card to withdraw a total of £1500.

On August 8, 2008, an 80-year-old woman reported her bank card was missing to hospital staff.

And on September 23, 2008, another patient 84, left her card and PIN number on her bed and her alarmed niece later noticed unusual activity on her bank statements.

Police discovered Mitchell had used the card to withdraw £1020 from the patient’s account.

Officers began making enquiries with hospital staff and Mitchell was questioned about the thefts in December last year.

Mitchell’s solicitor, Andy Aitken, said she had turned to crime to fund a gambling habit, which she had developed after the death of her father.

He said: “Can I say from the outset that anything I have to say on behalf of Mrs Mitchell is insignificant compared to her acceptance that these offences represent a truly appalling breach of trust.

“Her position is that when these offences were discovered and when she was interviewed by police, it was a massive relief to her and she felt a significant weight off her shoulders that this vicious circle of offending had come to an end, it was discovered and could now be dealt with.”

Mr Aitken continued: “The death of her father seems to have had a dramatic impact on her and caused stress and a spiral into severe depression.

“After that she turned to gambling which for some reason appears to have alleviated this sense of stress and depression.

“From there she spiralled into a vicious circle of offending to fund her

gambling.”

Jailing Mitchell for four months, Sheriff Graeme Fleming said: “I have listened carefully to what has been said on your behalf and the positive nature of what is in the reports but the fact remains that the victims in your care were already vulnerable by reason of their age.

“You abused the trust placed on you and used the proceeds of this crime to gamble.”

A member of staff at St John’s, who asked not to be named, said everybody in the hospital had been disgusted by Mitchell’s actions.

“It’s terrible to think that somebody could do that to any patient in the hospital, let alone an elderly person,” they said.

Alan Boyter, director of human resources and organisational development, NHS Lothian said the hospital hadn’t received a report of a theft in April 9, 2007.

He said: “We have no note of a theft from ward 15 at St John’s Hospital on April 9 2007 on our electronic system where all such incidents are recorded. As soon as we were informed that money had gone missing in 2008, NHS Lothian reported the matter to police.

“Following investigation a member of staff was dismissed in February 2009.”