A callous caregiver embezzled nearly £10,000 from the elderly wife of the man under her care. Danielle Houghton, aged 32, illicitly obtained the bank card of the 91-year-old wife and recklessly spent close to £10,000 in less than three months.
Houghton withdrew £7,700 from cash machines for personal use and squandered the remaining £2,073.14 on various items such as tanning sessions, online gambling, streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime subscriptions, retail purchases at Sports Direct, KFC meals, fuel, and general shopping including cigarettes and alcohol.
In an attempt to secure an additional £800, Houghton was unsuccessful as revealed during the court proceedings at Preston Crown Court. Consequently, on Friday, 22nd August, Houghton, residing on Buttermere Road in Lancaster, received a 2-year and 9-month prison sentence after admitting to theft and fraud by false representation.
The victim of Houghton’s deceit was a 91-year-old woman suffering from dementia, while her husband, the individual she was entrusted to care for, was a 92-year-old bedridden man. Houghton initiated her spending spree by stealing the woman’s bank card at the end of November 2023, persisting until the woman’s children identified the unauthorized transactions, prompting a police investigation into her criminal activities.
Tragically, both the victim and her husband passed away during the investigation. The victim’s son shared the anguish caused by Houghton’s selfish deeds in a Victim Impact Statement presented during the sentencing, recounting his mother’s distressing words, “Something bad has been done to me,” which plagued her until her last days.
Additionally, the victim’s daughter expressed her sorrow during the sentencing, stating that her mother never witnessed justice served as she was defrauded of her savings, and she lived with the realization that trust had been broken by those entering her home to care for her ailing husband.
DC Peter Bennett of Lancaster Criminal Investigation Department condemned Houghton’s actions as he highlighted the vulnerability of the victim, applauding the prison sentence as a deterrent to potential offenders who might contemplate similar deceitful acts. He acknowledged the added suffering experienced by the family due to the loss of both parents during the investigation.