Nursing home worker thief Brenda Allen escapes jail

Jan 30 2010 by Neil McKay, The Journal

A THIEVING nursing home administrator who siphoned off thousands of pounds belonging to elderly, vulnerable women residents escaped jail yesterday.

Recorder Martin Bethel QC, presiding at Durham Crown Court, said he accepted “albeit with difficulty” that Brenda Allen was suffering from a psychiatric disorder when she embarked on her scam more than five years ago.

Allen, 45, pocketed a total of £5,900 by targeting residents at Abigail Lodge Nursing Home, Consett, where she worked between March and November 2004, at which time she was known as Brenda Carey.

The thefts only came to light four years later when the family of one of her four victims, Jessie Quinn, noticed discrepancies in her account after she died.

Money which Allen had recorded as being given to the elderly resident’s family had not been received by them.

Euan Duff, prosecuting, said a similar pattern emerged involving three other elderly residents – all of whom have since died – once an investigation was launched.

Allen even typed out a letter purporting to be from the son of one of the elderly women, asking for £100 cash.

Allen, of Otteringham Close, Dumpling Hall, Newcastle, had earlier pleaded guilty to 12 counts of theft between June 27, and November 1, 2004 when she appeared before Durham Crown Court last month.