Carer who abused and stole food from dementia patient jailed
A carer who systematically abused and deprived an elderly dementia patient of food has been jailed.
Julie Hamilton from Willenhall, routinely cut corners, force fed the 88-year-old's meals in minutes to speed up visits, and often threw food away having falsely claimed to have served the dinners.
Hamilton’s neglect was exposed by a fellow carer who concealed a pin-hole camera inside an alarm clock positioned in the kitchen and lounge at the woman's home in Walsall, after she became concerned by the 88-year-old’s dehydration.
It showed the 53-year-old – who visited up to four times a week – barking orders like “open your mouth” when feeding the lady and giving her no time to swallow or digest food. At one stage she is heard to cry out in distress as Hamilton crams food in her mouth.
Detectives examined 19 clips caught on the camera between May and June 2014.
Watch Julie Hamilton caught on camera below:
Other footage shows her opening a tin of soup and washing it down the sink before signing paperwork claiming she’d spent time feeding her patient; on that lunchtime visit she spent just three minutes in the house and didn’t once check on the lady.
And the clip shows Hamilton scoffing a cake she stole from a kitchen cupboard - an act she later defended in police interviews as a “perk of the job”.
Hamilton was charged with two counts of ill-treatment and wilful neglect between December 2013 and June 2014 and at Wolverhampton Crown Court and jailed for two months.
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Karen Kirman from West Midlands Police’s specialist Vulnerable Adult Protection Unit, said she was determined to get justice on behalf of the lady and her family.
Hamilton immediately resigned her post on being shown the DVD…in a text message to care managers said how she was “disgusted with herself” and how she hoped “she don’t tell everybody [sic]”.
Martin Lindop, District Crown Prosecutor from West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: