Care home bosses who stole 85-year-old's £175,000 by faking her will with different handwriting and coloured pens face jail in one of Britain's biggest ever elderly fraud cases

Three care home bosses who stole £175,000 by faking an elderly resident's will using different handwriting and coloured pens are facing jail. Graham Walker, 74, his wife Lyn, 71, and ex-manager Jamiel Slaney-Summers, 65, plotted to scam frail 85-year-old Rita Barnsley. The trio - who ran Amberley Care Home in Brierley Hill, West Midlands - drew up a 'dodgy' will to snatch her lifesavings. The document, which was described in court as a 'sham', was produced the day after Rita died in August 2021. It named Mrs Walker and Slaney-Summers as executors and the main beneficiaries of the will. Slaney-Summers was due to receive 50 per cent of Rita's estate, while Mrs Walker would get 25 per cent. A sum of £5,000 was also left to the care home staff. The scam was exposed thanks to Rita's cousin Verna, who raised the alarm with Dudley Council's Trading Standards team - sparking one of the biggest elder fraud investigations ever seen in the UK. All three defendants were found guilty by a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court. Slaney-Summers was also found to have taken £6,000 from Rita's bank accounts, which she blew on online bingo. She claimed she had used the money to buy Rita flowers every Friday and on incontinence pads - but was found guilty of theft. The court heard Rita had moved into the care home in May 2020 after falling ill. However instead of receiving care, she was financially abused by the very people meant to protect her. Trading Standards officers uncovered several 'red flags' in the will which led to the Walkers and Slaney-Summers being arrested. The jury took just 90 minutes to return unanimous guilty verdicts following the four-week trial. Speaking afterwards, Councillor Phil Atkins, cabinet member responsible for trading standards at Dudley Council, said: 'Their intentions were clear - to fleece this poor, vulnerable woman of all the money she had worked her whole life to earn. 'It was an horrific abuse of trust by three people who she was relying on to look after her best interests. 'Instead they financially abused her and would have taken everything she had but for the dogged determination of her cousin and our trading standards team.' The trio will be sentenced on December 5.