Woman stole £9,000 from father while he was in hospital

Tracy Rose transferred money from her elderly father’s bank accounts into her own accounts, draining his savings and leaving him with nothing, Preston Crown Court heard.

Rose’s actions resulted in her dad, Donald Rose, missing direct debit payments on two life insurance plans and his funeral plan, which meant he lost all three of the policies.

Prosecuting, Megan Horner told the court: “On June 6, 2020, Donald Rose collapsed and lost consciousness and was admitted to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

“When he regained consciousness a few weeks later he didn’t have any belongings so asked the staff to contact his daughter, Tracy.

Tracy Rose (Image: Lancs Police)

“She told him it was too expensive to travel from where she was living in Rochdale to collect his belongings and bring them to him, but in fact, she had been living at his home [in Larch Close, Rawtenstall], while he had been in hospital.

“She visited him around three times but never brought him any of his belongings.

“In August 2020 he moved into a care home and while there he found money was missing from his bank accounts.

“He called Nationwide and found £2,000 had been transferred while he had been in hospital so he reported it to the police and asked his bank to freeze his account and cancel his direct debits.

“His account was frozen for two weeks, but when things went back online a further two transactions were made with money taken out.”

The police investigated and found £7,158.40 had been transferred from Mr Rose to the defendant and a further £1,800.99 had been transferred from one account to another and then withdrawn at an ATM.

Rose was arrested on November 23, 2021, and said she wasn’t aware of the offences or what they related to, but later told police she had been given permission from her father to make the transactions.

Ms Horner went on: “In his victim personal statement, Mr Rose said he had suffered life changing effects as a result of the crimes committed by his daughter.

“He said he had been making great progress with his health but that changed when he realised money had been stolen from him.

“At first he was concerned about his mobile phone and tablet but this was much worse as he relied on that money to survive.

“He said he has been left very anxious as he hadn’t been able to make enquiries himself due to being in the care home which made the situation worse, and slowed his recovery down.

“Social services had to arrange for his locks to be changed on his house, and he found that the defendant had left it in a state, which added to his anxiety.

“He said he had still not gotten over what Tracy had done to him and felt emotionally drained, with the incident still bothering him some two years later.

“He said, ‘she put me through hell. I lost two life insurance plans and my funeral plan as a result of Tracy’s actions’.”

Rose, 44, now of St James Street, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

Mitigating, Jack Troup said his client had been in two abusive relationships and had been addicted to drink and drugs, which led her to committing the offences against her father.

He said: “She has since moved to Wales and has ended that relationship which was a catalyst for her offending.”

Judge Heather Lloyd called Rose’s actions ‘despicable’ and said: “For your own personal gain you targeted your father’s financial affairs for a period of six months and drained his account.

“You didn’t care about the effects, only your own needs.

“All this was happening when your father was very unwell and was at his most vulnerable.

“All his money was taken and he was distressed when he realised what you had done.

“You have been charged with fraud but in reality this is theft from your father and was deliberate targeting and a breach of trust.”

Rose was jailed for 18 months.