Rotherham care home manager must repay stolen cash

A care home manager who stole £42,000 from elderly residents has been ordered by a judge to repay the money.
Lynne Thompson, from Smithy Wood Road, Woodseats, was jailed for 32 months at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting stealing from four residents at the Church View Care Home in Kimberworth.Lynne Thompson, from Smithy Wood Road, Woodseats, was jailed for 32 months at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting stealing from four residents at the Church View Care Home in Kimberworth.
Lynne Thompson, from Smithy Wood Road, Woodseats, was jailed for 32 months at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting stealing from four residents at the Church View Care Home in Kimberworth.

Lynne Thompson, of Smithy Wood Road, Woodseats, was jailed for 32 months last summer after admitting stealing from four residents at the Church View Care Home in Kimberworth.

At a Proceeds of Crime Hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, Thompson was ordered to repay a total of £42,450 by Judge Sarah Wright.

Church View Care Home, Church Street, Kimberworth. Picture: Marie CaleyChurch View Care Home, Church Street, Kimberworth. Picture: Marie Caley
Church View Care Home, Church Street, Kimberworth. Picture: Marie Caley
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Thompson must repay the amount within three months or she will face further punishment.

Thompson, aged 45, handed herself into police last November after admitting to her husband and her employers what she had been doing.

She walked into Rotherham police station and declared: “I have stolen this money and I need to be stopped.”

All four of her victims – from whom she stole between £7,900 and £14,499 each – had mental health issues and were ‘particularly vulnerable’.

Church View Care Home, Church Street, Kimberworth. Picture: Marie CaleyChurch View Care Home, Church Street, Kimberworth. Picture: Marie Caley
Church View Care Home, Church Street, Kimberworth. Picture: Marie Caley
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The stolen funds were spent on ‘clothes, gifts and just stuff’ – while Thompson had debts of between £15,000 and £20,000.

At a hearing last August Richard Jepson, for Thompson, said a psychological report indicated she may suffer from a form of kleptomania, in which she became addicted to buying items with stolen money.

He said: “While goods were purchased using the monies, most actually were thrown away or given away randomly to complete strangers or languished in a cupboard at home.”

“Things got out of control very quickly.”

Part of Thompson’s responsibility in her job as the care home’s manager, which she started in July 2011, gave her access to the bank and Post Office accounts of some of the residents.

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She would withdraw money for them and put it into wallets at the home, recording on a computer system the money she had got for them.

But Thompson would regularly withdraw between £100 and £300 from the accounts, putting a smaller amount in the residents’ wallets and pocketing the rest.