Articles by Editor,Olivia Christie

Technology

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.

Technology

Afghan asylum seeker sexually assaulted two women as he delivered takeaways to their homes despite ruling he had overstayed in UK

An asylum seeker who had overstayed his right to be in the UK sexually assaulted two women while he delivered takeaways to their homes. Shafiullah Rasooli, 29, was working illegally when he used his friend's registration details to deliver food to people in and around the town of Maidstone, Kent. A court heard that on July 26 and July 3 this year he touched the breasts of two of his customers and ran his hands over their upper bodies. Rasooli, who is originally from Afghanistan, was later identified and charged with three counts of sexual assault, two of which were against the same victim. He denied the allegations, claiming that 'hugging to the side' was a common method of saying goodbye in his home country. However, the 29-year-old was found guilty of all the charges at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court on October 1. Terry Knox, prosecuting, told the hearing: 'He's an immigration overstayer and now his application to stay [longer] has now been formally rejected. 'He came to [one victim's] address and she recognised him from [delivering food] two weeks earlier. 'He then steps over the threshold of the door, so the assault happened in her own home. 'He had one foot in the door and one foot outside, and they had a conversation about her cat, and he said he could take the cat home. 'He then asked her her name and age and told her she looks young for her age, and then he gestures to the sofa and says to her, "No boyfriend or friends [at home]". 'She lies and indicates to him yes...and she was scared and unsettled as he gives her the bags [for delivery] and at that point he runs his hands down her body, down her breasts and [upper] body and was smiling as he did so.' Mr Knox then told the court that the woman said the second sexual assault was carried out in a similar manner. Speaking of the attack on the other woman, the prosecutor continued: 'He was at the [second] woman's door and asked her her date of birth and said he was surprised at her age. 'He then steps over the threshold into her porch and lifted his arm over her shoulder and holds her right breast and does a tapping motion [on it]. 'She froze, but didn't want to show panic, and he said he was a Muslim and didn't drink alcohol and had a bottle of wine in the vehicle from a previous delivery and would she like a free bottle. 'She said no, but he repeats [the offer] and so she says, "go on then" to get him to leave.' The court heard Rasooli then went back to to his vehicle to get the bottle of wine, before he held the woman's shoulder and breast for a second time. Mr Knox added: 'He then grabs her phone and enters his own contact details into it and says he hopes to see her soon and he called her two days later, twice, but she didn't answer.' The court heard the woman had become paranoid after the incident and had installed CCTV and security lights at her property. She has also become unable to hold down her job as she couldn't sleep due to worries he would return. The woman said: 'This [my house] used to be my safe place, but he knows where my home is and what my phone number is.' Mr Knox told the court that Rasooli was remanded in custody in August because his immigration status was an overstayer. But the prosecutor said at that stage he didn't know whether Rasooli would be detained by immigration authorities if he was released. Mr Knox added: 'He's been on remand as he had no [real] residence to go to.' The court ordered that Rasooli would be kept in custody until a pre-sentencing report was completed. However, when the sex offender appeared at Margate Magistrates' Court on October 21, the hearing was told this would not be done until December 3 at the earliest. Magistrates then said they wanted to send the case to Canterbury Crown Court for sentencing and Rasooli was remanded in custody until then. A date for that hearing is yet to be fixed.