A greedy care home boss stole thousands from vulnerable care home residents while staff kindly used their own low wages to provide for toiletries and haircuts, a court heard. Joanne Whalen, 51, took nearly £24,000 from residents, some of whom were suffering with dementia, Alzheimers, and Parkinsons in an effort to pay off her own large debts.
Her thieving was only discovered when a member of the care staff confided in a director of the home during an unannounced visit that they were 'worried' about some of the residents not having any money, and some staff had paid for essentials out of their own low wages. The director then confronted Whalen to show her the safe, where the money and financial records should have been kept, but she refused to. She was suspended as manager of the home within days.
Manchester Minshull Street court heard that these offences took place while she was managing Firs Hall Care Home in Failsworth over a three and a half year period. She has now been sent to jail for 18 months, with recorder Paul Hodgkinson telling her: "You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself."
