‘Carer’ jailed for stealing £12k from Man aged 90

Pardip Kaur, aged 30, of Handsworth, was jailed for 10 months after she stole more than £12,000 from a 90-year-old man she was supposed to be caring for despite not being an official carer.

She made £22 for a couple of hours’ work a day helping the victim, however, she raided his savings when she felt she was not being paid enough.

The prosecutor, Patrick Kelly, told Birmingham Crown Court that prior to the incident, the victim was “very independent” for his age.

He did require some help from family and carers to shop, cook and clean for him.

Kaur was not an “official carer” and described as a “friend of a friend”.

She began helping him from June 2020 for £11 an hour, two hours a day.

But on August 20, 2020, the man noticed £50 was missing from his purse. He did not alert the police but instead moved the purse under his bed.

However, when more money went missing, he confronted Kaur.

Mr Kelly explained: “She initially denied any wrongdoing however after about 30 minutes she admitted stealing money.

“She said she was sorry, it was a mistake and asked to keep it between themselves and not to report it to the police and his family.

“She handed him £200 in cash.”

Having grown suspicious, the victim checked a filing cabinet where he had stored around £13,000 in savings but discovered that there was only £1,000 left.

Mr Kelly added: “The only person to have access was the defendant when she was cleaning.

“On occasion, she would suggest he (the victim) go for a walk when she cleans his house.”

Things culminated when Kaur’s husband was forced to call the police because the victim had confronted her and refused to let her leave his home unless she paid him back.

Officers attended and arrested Kaur.

She initially told officers that she had taken approximately £3,000 and spent more than half of it in shops.

Police found three sums totalling £790 at her home while her sister dropped off a further £1,300 which Kaur had given her claiming it was her wages.

Mr Kelly revealed that the victim’s health had “gone down” since the incident, stating he was losing sleep “thinking about what she had done” and that his family were now checking on him more regularly.

Kaur admitted one charge of theft.

Simon Hanns, defending, said: “She is remorseful and shows empathy.

“She accepts, unusually, there was no good reason why she did it. She doesn’t have any particular financial difficulty.

“It was always likely to come to the attention of the complainant.

“She is willing to pay compensation the only problem with this is the potential loss of her job when her employers find out.

“She does not pose a danger to the public and there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”

A total of £12,200 was stolen. Kaur ultimately accepted responsibility for all of the missing money despite initially thinking she had taken a much smaller sum.

Judge Peter Carr stated that the crime was “so serious only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate”.

He told Kaur:

“You thought you weren’t getting paid enough.”

“That’s absolutely no excuse for doing what you then did which was effectively help yourself to a substantial part of his savings.

“This was a cruel and nasty offence, taking advantage as you did of your position as his carer and the trust he placed in you.”

Birmingham Mail reported that Kaur was jailed for 10 months.