Care home boss who swindled ‘vulnerable’ 99-year-old out of £750,000 that she spent on cosmetic surgery, house extension, car and camper van is struck off

A nurse has been struck off after she convinced a ‘vulnerable’ 99-year-old woman to hand over £750,000 that she spent on cosmetic surgery and house improvements.

Rebecca Louise Burwood was the deputy manager at Bryn Yr Haul Care Home in Mold, North East Wales, when she ‘manipulated’ the pensioner from 2017 and 2023.

The woman was vulnerable after a fall and had no family members to support her when Mrs Burwood took her to a solicitor and had her home valued at £400,000.

2018, she convinced the pensioner – who she affectionately referred to as ‘nana’ – to sign the home over to her and move into the Bryn Yr Haul Care Home.

On May 5, 2018, Mrs Burwood and a friend met with the woman’s solicitor and were granted Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). She failed to disclose this to the home.

This began a years-long campaign of ‘coercion’ and ’emotional blackmail’, a tribunal hearing before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was told.

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Mrs Burwood stole £370,000 from the woman over five years that she spent on cosmetic surgery, a car, a campervan and an extension on her home.

She convinced the pensioner to pay £20,000 for the car and £9,000 for the campervan, which she said was purchased so the pair could go on day trips.

Mrs Burwood also claimed the works on her home had been so the elderly woman could live with her in the event of another pandemic lockdown. However, the extension had been paid for before the first lockdown was even announced.

The tribunal was told there was ‘evidence to show Mrs Burwood used the funds for house improvements, utility bills and council tax’ and ‘there are allegations that Mrs Burwood used some of the funds for personal cosmetic surgery’.

The care home deputy manager withdrew a staggering £160,000 from the woman’s bank account using cash machines between 2017 and 2023.

Mrs Burwood told the tribunal the woman, referred to as Resident A, asked her to withdraw cash from her bank account and make donations to charities each week.

She claimed the donations, which were between £250 and £500 each time, would usually go towards charities that supported the blind or those with heart issues.

Mrs Burwood said she would either put the cash in charity pots while she was out and about or hand donations directly to staff in local charity shops.

Her legal representative Victoria Rees said: ‘Resident A had told her that she didn’t want anything to be left by the time she died, as she didn’t want the government to have her money.

Mrs Burwood didn’t keep any records of the amount of money she withdrew, or the amount of money she donated on Resident A’s behalf.’

The pensioner’s bank referred the matter to North Wales Police on March 1, 2023, and police launched an investigation.

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The pensioner’s account was frozen by her bank. Mrs Burwood responded by taking the woman into the branch to try and unfreeze it.

Bank staff heard the nurse ‘blackmailing’ the woman by saying she would not take her out of the home if she didn’t have access to her money.

The attempt to unfreeze the bank account was unsuccessful.

On April 28, 2023, a nurse overheard Mrs Burwood tell the elderly woman ‘I will give you the money back’, ‘sign here’ and ‘not sign here’.

She reported the conversation as evidence of financial abuse and it was decided Mrs Burwood would only make supervised visits to the woman.

Mrs Burwood claimed she had only been asking the pensioner to ‘sign a condolence card for the family of [a mutual friend].’

She claimed: ‘Resident A’s eyesight was very poor, and so Mrs Burwood held the card for her and showed her where she should sign and stopped her from signing over the printed words in the card.’

The woman was visited by safeguarding on May 10, 2023, to discuss the conversation.

The NMC have now ruled that Mrs Burwood should never practise as a nurse again following the ‘sustained, calculated’ theft from the ‘vulnerable’ woman.

It said Mrs Burwood had taken advantage of the trust the woman had placed in her and ‘weaponised’ it for her own personal and financial gain.

In her defence, Mrs Burwood said she saw the resident as her ‘nana’ as an explanation for why she crossed professional boundaries.

The elderly woman has since passed away. She had only been left with enough money to pay for 23 months of care before the council would have had to step in.

The NMC said: ‘The panel determined that Resident A was vulnerable and lonely, she was elderly, had lost her independence through a fall, and had no family.

The panel determined that from the evidence set out above, it could safely draw the inference that between 2017 and 2023 Mrs Burwood engaged in a sustained, calculated course of conduct to take advantage of Resident A for her own personal and/or financial gain.

‘The panel was satisfied that Mrs Burwood took advantage of the trust that Resident A had placed in her.

‘She relied on Mrs Burwood, not least for social contact and Mrs Burwood knew this, weaponising this against Resident A, telling her that she would be unable to have days out without Mrs Burwood being afforded access to her money.

‘Mrs Burwood exploited Resident A using manipulation and coercion to acquire funds from her. Such behaviour falls seriously short of the standards expected of a nurse and amounts to serious misconduct.

‘Balancing all of these factors and after taking into account all the evidence before it during this case, the panel determined that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Mrs Burwood for comment.