Care worker who stole £9,000 from pensioner, 80, spared jail

A social care worker was spared jail today after pleading guilty to stealing thousands of pounds from a disabled pensioner.

Care worker Anne McConnell pleaded guilty to stealing from a disabled pensioner. Picture: Stewart Robertson

Anne McConnell stole £9,000 from the bank account of 80-year-old severe arthritis sufferer Janet Noteman while working as her carer on the Isle of Arran.

McConnell, the younger sister of Labour peer Jack McConnell, got hold of Noteman’s bank card and PIN number and cleared out her savings account between February and August 2015.

She then told police probing her theft that she stole it “because of the menopause” and needed it to pay her mortgage and hoped the former first minister would help her pay it back.

She could have been jailed for 12 months for the offence when she returned to the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court today to be sentenced.

But she was given a Community Payback Order (CPO) - requiring her to carry out unpaid work and pay compensation to the bank, who had earlier reimbursed her victim.

Anne was originally accused of stealing £17,900 from he victim, but struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to stealing the reduced sum of £9,000.

The 52-year-old admitted her guilt earlier this year and the case was adjourned on several occasions for her to raise the money she stole before being sentenced.

• READ MORE: Woman stole life savings of Arran pensioner in her care

Last month it emerged she had managed to sell her three bedroom semi-detached home in the Arran village of Whiting Bay to settle the balance.

The property was up for sale for offers over £105,000 but McConnell has managed to sell it for £95,000.

And today defence solicitor Gordon Ghee told Kilmarnock Sheriff Court that the new owner was expected to move in the Friday.

He explained: “There seems to be at least £10,000 of equity which could pay the balance due to the complainer.”

He told Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane that the case could be adjourned for a final time to ensure everything went through as planned, and asked the sheriff if she wanted to do that.

She replied: “I really don’t.

“I want to deal with this today.

“Unpaid work is my preferred option.

“I’m bringing matters to an end today.”

She placed McConnell on a CPO, requiring her to pay £9,000 in compensation to the bank within 28 days, and gave her six months to carry out 225 hours’ unpaid work, reduced from 300 hours’, as she admitted her guilt.

As she did so, she warned McConnell not to breach the court order, which was imposed as a direct alternative to custody, adding: “I’d like not to have to see you as far as this matter is concerned.”

McConnell had looked worriedly around court as she sat in the public gallery waiting to learn her fate but showed no emotion as she learned she was being spared jail.

Prosecutors are currently examining her finances to see how she benefitted financially from her theft and a Proceeds of Crime hearing has been scheduled for later this year.

Her theft came to light when she went off on sick leave and the pensioner noticed the money was gone.

Her new carer contacted the police and, during questioning, McConnell told officers she’d stolen the money because she was going through the menopause and needed it to pay her mortgage.

She also said she hoped her big brother would help pay back the money but Jack, who was First Minister of Scotland between 2001 and 2007, refused to help his baby sister.

That meant Anne had to sell her house and a host of household items, including a horsebox, in a bid to raise the money she stole.

• READ MORE: Menopause drove me to steal £9,000 from OAP claims carer, 51

When McConnell, who now lives in Kilmarnock, admitted her guilt earlier this year, Procurator Fiscal Depute Claire McEvinney explained: “She said she needed it to pay her mortgage and said she wasn’t right in the head because of the menopause.”

At a hearing in February, defence solicitor Peter Lockhart said: “In her police interview the police officer said to her that she had made a comment that she would get the money back from her brother.

“She said, ‘I just meant I would ask if he’d help out to get the money back’.

“He asked, ‘have you spoken to Jack in relation to this?’

“She replied, ‘no, not yet’.

“As far as the family are concerned they are supportive but they are not in a position, nor are they prepared, to pay this money.

“At the end of the day it is for the accused to pay it, and that’s their position.

“She accepts this is a despicable offence.

“The social work report details she is wracked with guilt.”

The lawyer also said it “beggars belief” that she stole the money as she is a “caring individual.”

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