Care home nurse conned 99-year-old out of £750k then 'spent it on plastic surgery'

Care home nurse conned 99-year-old out of £750k then 'spent it on plastic surgery' Care home deputy manager Rebecca Burwood bought a car, a campervan, and a house extension with the funds - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in A nurse who stole more than £750,000 from a "vulnerable" 99-year-old woman, then allegedly used the money for cosmetic surgery, has been removed from the nursing register. Rebecca Burwood, an adult nursing specialist who registered in 2002, "manipulated" the elderly resident into total reliance, calling her "nana" before she "weaponised" that trust to siphon off the pensioner’s savings, a tribunal found. The misconduct included withdrawing £160,000 from cash machines, alongside taking tens of thousands of pounds to finance an extension to her home, a car, and a campervan – which Ms Burwood claimed she would use to take them on day trips. The pensioner was even coerced into giving her £400,000 home to Ms Burwood, the tribunal found. Ms Burwood, who served as deputy manager at Bryn Yr Haul Care Home in Mold, Flintshire, first began exploiting the woman – anonymised as Resident A – in 2017. Following a fall that left her isolated, Ms Burwood took her to a solicitor to transfer her £400,000 property into her name, before arranging her move to the care home in 2018. On May 5, 2018, Ms Burwood and her friend, anonymised as Person B, met with Resident A’s solicitor and were given Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) – a fact that Ms Burwood did not disclose to the care home. Her legal representative, Victoria Rees, claimed that Resident A gave Ms Burwood her bank cards to use and had asked her to "withdraw cash from Resident A’s account and make generous donations to charity each week". Ms Rees claimed: "This was often between £250 and £500 a week, mainly to charities supporting the blind or those with heart issues. "Ms Burwood would either put money in charity pots when she was out and about, or pop into a local charity shop and hand over the donation to the shop staff. "Resident A had told her that she didn’t want anything to be left by the time she died, as she didn’t want the government to have her money. "Ms Burwood didn’t keep any records of the amount of money she withdrew, or the amount of money she donated on Resident A’s behalf." This was done from 2017 to 2023, the tribunal heard. Ms Burwood had also got the elderly woman to pay £20,000 for a car and £9,000 for a campervan, saying it was to take her on day trips which they would not be able to go on otherwise. This "emotional blackmail" continued so Ms Burwood could get an extension on her house. She claimed the work on the house had been so Resident A could live with her in the event of another pandemic lockdown. However, it had been paid for before the first lockdown was ever announced. Resident A had only been left with enough money for 23 months of care before the council would have to start funding it. Ms Burwood took £370,000 from Resident A over the five-year period. With the £400,000 value of her home, the total value of what Ms Burwood accrued from the vulnerable woman was £770,000. There is "evidence to show Ms Burwood used the funds for house improvements, utility bills and council tax", and "there are allegations that Ms Burwood used some of the funds for personal cosmetic surgery". Following the large cash withdrawals made, Resident A’s bank referred the matter to North Wales Police on 1 March 2023, and the police began an investigation. The bank initially froze Resident A’s account, but Ms Burwood then took Resident A to the bank to try to unfreeze the account. Bank staff heard Ms Burwood "blackmailing" the elderly woman by saying she would not take her out if she did not have access to her money. The attempt to unfreeze the account was unsuccessful. On April 28, 2023, Ms Burwood visited Resident A at the home and another nurse overheard her say ‘I will give you the money back’, ‘sign here’ and ‘not sign here’. The nurse reported the conversation, which she recognised as evidence of financial abuse. It was decided that Ms Burwood should only make supervised visits to Resident A. However, Ms Burwood claimed she had just come to get Resident A to "sign a condolence card for the family of [a mutual friend]. She said: "Resident A’s eyesight was very poor, and so Ms Burwood held the card for her and showed her where she should sign and stopped her from signing over the printed words in the card." Resident A was visited by safeguarding on 10 May 2023, to discuss the overheard conversation. Resident A "stated that she did not want to take any action" as "she believes [Ms Burwood] has learned from her mistakes and values her friendship", it was recorded. The police took no further action as Resident A did not want to make a complaint, but on 9 June 2023, Flintshire County Council referred the matter to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The NMC has now decided that Ms Burwood should never practice as a nurse again for the "sustained, calculated" theft from the "vulnerable" resident. In her defence, Ms Burwood said she saw Resident A as her "nana" and that is why she had crossed professional boundaries. Resident A has since passed away. The NMC said: "The panel determined that Resident A was vulnerable and lonely, she was elderly, had lost her independence through a fall, and had no family. "The panel determined that from the evidence set out above, it could safely draw the inference that between 2017 and 2023 Ms Burwood engaged in a sustained, calculated course of conduct to take advantage of Resident A for her own personal and/or financial gain. "The panel was satisfied that Ms Burwood took advantage of the trust that Resident A had placed in her. "She relied on Ms Burwood, not least for social contact and Ms Burwood knew this, weaponising this against Resident A, telling her that she would be unable to have days out without Ms Burwood being afforded access to her money. "Ms Burwood exploited Resident A using manipulation and coercion to acquire funds from her. "Such behaviour falls seriously short of the standards expected of a nurse and amounts to serious misconduct. "Balancing all of these factors and after taking into account all the evidence before it during this case, the panel determined that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order."