A callous care worker stole more than £100,000 from a vulnerable elderly woman over a "despicable" 14-month campaign of fraud.
Paul McFadden, 39, even stole money from Elizabeth Cain on the day her husband Terence died and continued to swindle the pensioner after she herself died.
The conman, who would regularly transfer money from her account to his, has now been convicted of fraud and this week was jailed for four and a half years.
McFadden, from Merseyside, was still stealing from Mrs Cain as she was dying in hospital and by the time he was caught there was less than £100 left in her account. In total he took £115,304.41.
He began his offending by transferring sums of £50 from Mrs Cain's account to his, but gradually doubled the amounts to the point where they reached £2,000. The thief made up to 32 transactions per day, with the highest figure stolen in one 24-hour period reaching £4,000.
Liverpool Crown Court was told on Thursday that McFadden was one of three carers appointed by agency Be Caring to tend to her and her husband - both of whom were then aged 78 - in 2019 after she suffered a fall and a deterioration in her health. Mrs Cain had previously been her partner's primary carer after he suffered a severe stroke in 2006.
His duties included preparing the couple's meals during two visits per day, but his employment was terminated on March 30, 2020 due to gross misconduct after he had falsified logins. However, he continued to visit them, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Mrs Cain's sister and her husband previously visited them weekly but were required to shield due to covid, and did not see them for much of 2020. Mr Cain died on November 7, 2020, with McFadden - of Archway Road in Huyton - subsequently visiting the widow "two or three times a week" and regularly doing her food shopping for her.
Neil Bisarya, prosecuting, described how she was left "distressed" shortly after her husband's death due to an unpaid £170 newsagents bill. She had given the defendant money to pay this, but two weeks later the shop threatened to stop its deliveries as the sum had still not been received.
Mrs Cain's sibling confronted McFadden, who said he had "forgotten to pay it", and he subsequently settled the tab. When she moved into sheltered housing in January 2021, he continued to visit.
He "took it on himself to sort out new furniture" for the flat, but the various household items delivered were of "low quality". Mrs Cain's brother-in-law believed that she was paying for these goods.
She became "extremely deaf" shortly after moving, and was left with no contact with her shielding relatives as a result. McFadden then took the key to her apartment as she could not use the intercom.
He had to meet the sister and brother in-law at the address when they visited on May 5 2021 to let them in. But Mrs Cain, who was by now into her 80s, struggled to communicate with them.
Three days later, she suffered a severe fall and was admitted to Aintree Hospital. McFadden told her relatives he would go to the flat to pick up her handbag and other items, but they were never delivered.
Mrs Cain passed away on the evening of May 22, 2021. Two days later, her family went to her flat to look for her life insurance certificate but could not find it or any other important paperwork or valuables.
McFadden said he "might know" where these missing items were and returned the handbag on May 26. He said he had left her debit card and purse at his house, but promised to give them back.
The conman appeared "reluctant" to do so, however. And when her relatives visited the Bootle branch of Santander and spoke to a financial advisor, they found out that a £120.99 withdrawal had been made from her account two days after her death from a cash machine at a post office in Bowness, Cumbria.
McFadden had told them he was travelling to the Lake District, where he was staying in a Travelodge hotel, after being informed of Mrs Cain's death. On the day of her funeral on June 8, he texted the family to say he had dropped off the purse and card with the manager of her accommodation.
The fraudster claimed that he had "stayed at the back" during the service as he had forgotten his face mask, but only 12 people were present and he was not seen at the church. Mrs Cain's sister collected the purse and card the following day.
She had been expecting the couple's gold wedding rings to be inside the wallet, as the OAP had kept her husband's there following his death. But they were not present and have never been recovered.
The family later returned to the bank, at which point "the full extent of the fraud become apparent" - with "numerous" bank transfers having been made from her account to McFadden's. It is believed that Mrs Cain was "completely unaware" of these transactions.
She had been left with only £87.53 in her savings account and had gone into her overdraft "a couple of times" towards the end of her life. Her pension money was regularly "taken almost as soon as she received it".
Between March 2020 and May 2021, a total of 554 transactions were recorded from Mrs Cain's account to McFadden's as well as three cheques totaling £15,300. The full amount he had stolen was a shocking £115,304.41.
McFadden, who was defended by Frank Dillon, was described as a "long-term drug user" who had committed the offences in order to feed his habit. He has 11 previous convictions for 27 offences between 2007 and 2020, including for handling stolen goods and drug offences.
Jailing him for four-and-a-half years after he admitted fraud, Judge Brian Cummings KC said he had "fleeced" his victim then "fobbed off" her family afterwards in an effort to "attempt to conceal evidence or obstruct the discovery of the fraud". The judge added: "There is plainly a better side to you.
"At the end of the day, what you did was prey on a very old lady who believed that you had her best interests at heart. Despite other blows she was suffering in her life, including the death of her own husband, you carried on defrauding her.
"I do not believe you had any real consideration for her as a person, and I doubt you have any real remorse for it. What you did was despicable."
Detective Inspector Richie Shillito, from Merseyside Police's economic crime team said following the sentencing: "The scale and regularity of this fraud was astounding, made even more so by the fact that McFadden had previously provided care to the victim - an elderly and vulnerable lady. He took advantage of the pandemic to take control of her finances prior to her death, unbeknownst to her family.
"To essentially empty all of her life savings is callous in the extreme. The brazenness of McFadden to continue visiting his victim and lead her to believe he was a friend makes his offending all the more serious, and perhaps he will reflect on the distress and harm he has caused to the victim's family on top of them losing a beloved family member.
"If you suspect that you or someone you know is the victim of fraud, Action Fraud and police forces will take action to prevent the untold harm that it can cause."
