June 5, 2017 1.24 pm This story is over 81 months old

Callous mum-of-four stole over £40k from MS sufferers she ‘cared’ for

A care worker stole more than £40,000 in just eight months from two vulnerable clients, Lincoln Crown Court has heard. Mother-of-four Alexandra Rust was trusted to look after MS sufferers Caron Oyston and Gail Carvalho but instead stole from them. Caroline Bradley, prosecuting, said: “Caron Oyston and Gail Carvalho are both women who suffer from…
Alexandra Rust has been jailed for two years. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

A care worker stole more than £40,000 in just eight months from two vulnerable clients, Lincoln Crown Court has heard.

Mother-of-four Alexandra Rust was trusted to look after MS sufferers Caron Oyston and Gail Carvalho but instead stole from them.

Caroline Bradley, prosecuting, said: “Caron Oyston and Gail Carvalho are both women who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis.

“They both have limited movement and limited communication.

“In order to assist them they have a number of carers. One of those was Alexandra Rust.

“She was employed to care for Caron Oyston and on an ad hoc basis she would care for Gail Carvalho.

“She was a trusted carer. Miss Oyston says she has to trust her carers. There is no alternative.”

Miss Bradley said that Miss Oyston had previously been the victim of a fraud but during the investigation into that matter police discovered that Rust had also been taking money.

In just eight months she took £40,000 mostly from Miss Oyston’s Barclaycard account but also withdrew money from cash machines and from a joint account held by the two women.

At one point she transferred £6,000 from Ms Carvalho’s account into Miss Oyston’s account in an attempt to cover-up the fraud.

Miss Bradley said: “Effectively she was draining Miss Oyston dry. The overall loss is £41,250.

“The victims have expressed complete sadness that their trusting nature was disrespected in such a serious way.

“They are particularly vulnerable victims. They had no choice but to rely on their carers and this defendant knew that Miss Oyston had been the victim of fraud before.”

The court was told that Rust was dismissed from her job for breach of confidentiality and it was only afterwards that the fraud offences came to light.

Rust, 40, of Shaw Road, Boston, admitted three offences of fraud.

She was jailed for two years.

Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, told Rust: “You targeted particularly vulnerable people.

“You took a total of £41,250 over a period of eight months. This was a gross breach of trust.”

Richard Veni, in mitigation, said that Rust had no previous convictions and admitted the offences at the first court hearing.

He told the court “She comes from a good family. She has not always been a bad person.”