Swansea Care Worker Stole £5,000 From Clients

Care home worker Emma Josef has been given a nine-month suspended jail sentence for stealing more than £5,000 from her special needs clients.

The 29-year-old helped herself to the savings of residents at Stepping Stones in Broadoak then fudged figures in her spreadsheet.

Julian Kesner, prosecuting, told Gloucester Crown Court Josef was a senior administrator handling the flow of cash from the safe to clients who had learning difficulties.

He said: “The amount that was brought in each week was substantial. There were 35 residents.

“It was her job to put the money into the individual residents’ wallets and keep account of what had been paid and the amount spent.”

He added: “Many of the residents didn’t have the capacity to look after their own affairs or their wallets.”

Matters came to light, said Mr Kesner, when Josef was on maternity leave and an audit flagged up the discrepancy in her system.

Josef, of St Helen’s Crescent, Swansea, pleaded guilty to five counts of theft from her employer.

She asked for seven similar offences to be taken into consideration. The total she took was £5,520. Jonathan Stanniland, defending, said: “The offences were committed out of necessity rather than greed.”

He said Josef had £5,000 savings from the sale of a property which would repay nearly all the money.

Judge Martin Picton gave Josef the prison sentence, suspended for a year, with 200 hours’ unpaid community work. He ordered her to use her savings to repay the home.