Two former paramedics who posed as nurses to steal morphine and painkillers from terminally unwell sufferers to feed their opiate addictions have been jailed for 5 years every.
Ruth Lambert and Jessica Silvester, who’re engaged, preyed on sufferers throughout Kent receiving end-of-life care throughout lockdown, posing as nurses to achieve entry to their houses to steal the medicine.
Lambert, 33, and Silvester, 29, had entry to affected person data on the NHS laptop system by means of their work as paramedics with the South East Coast Ambulance Service.
The couple, from Margate, would commerce WhatsApp messages figuring out victims after which go to and steal from them in Thanet, Canterbury, Whitstable, Faversham and Herne Bay in Kent.
A probe discovered that that they had carried out as much as 29 burglaries, with Silvester looking out the NHS databases for doable targets and Lambert raiding the properties.
The stolen medicine had initially been prescribed to a few of the focused sufferers to make their closing days as comfy as doable.
Lambert and Silvester pleaded responsible to conspiring to burgle and conspiring to commit theft – having additionally stolen a £14,000 ultrasound machine from the NHS – and had been every sentenced yesterday at Canterbury Crown Courtroom to 5 years in jail.
Their legal professionals argued that they turned hooked on opiates after discovering the medicine helped deal with bodily and psychological ache.
Ruth Lambert (proper) and Jessica Silvester (left), who’re engaged, preyed on sufferers receiving end-of-life care throughout lockdown, posing as nurses to achieve entry to their houses to steal the medicine
A probe discovered that that they had carried out as much as 29 burglaries, with Silvester (left) looking out the NHS databases for doable targets and Lambert (proper) raiding the properties
Their offending got here to gentle final yr when Kent Police started to obtain a lot of related studies of distraction burglaries, and the pair had been arrested on August 4 at their dwelling in Margate in relation to a housebreaking within the city two days earlier.
Upon their arrest, officers searched their dwelling and located medicine bearing the names of different individuals in addition to nurses’ uniforms and NHS laptop tools.
By analysing the defendants’ cell phones, officers from the Chief Constable’s Crime Squad confirmed the 2 thieves had additionally conspired to steal from the ambulance service by stealing medicine from ambulances when on obligation and from NHS reserves.
Textual content messages between the 2 referred to the medicine as ‘sweets’.
An examination of the calls system throughout a interval of simply over three months of the entire time they had been offending, confirmed Silvester’s login particulars had been used 1,847 occasions to entry the NHS laptop system and overview calls.
The 2 girls additionally stored a diary, logging addresses visited, the medicine accessible and any notes of curiosity, similar to in the event that they had been refused entry to a property.
The data accessed and the diary allowed officers to cross-reference info in an effort to determine extra offences carried out by Lambert and Silvester.
Lots of the victims weren’t conscious of any wrongdoing till the police arrived and made enquiries, piecing collectively the offences with the help of subsequent of kin and victims.
Lambert, 33, and Silvester, 29, had entry to affected person data on the NHS laptop system by means of their work as paramedics with the South East Coast Ambulance Service
CCTV and cell phone cell knowledge additionally confirmed the offenders had been on the scenes of lots of the burglaries reported to police.
Officers established a minimum of 25 burglaries had been carried out by Lambert and Silvester over a interval of 9 months from December 2020.
The investigation discovered they stole medicine from three additional properties by knocking on doorways and convincing occupants they had been gathering the medicine for reliable causes after their family members had handed away.
In addition they carried out a number of thefts from the ambulance service between 2018 and 2021.
Throughout their enquiries, police had been in a position to return medical tools to the NHS, valued at over £14,000.
Detective Sergeant Jay Robinson from Kent Police’s Chief Constable’s Crime Squad mentioned: ‘When studies got here in concerning suspicious people visiting properties in search of medicine, additional work was carried out to overview earlier housebreaking studies to Kent Police to see in the event that they had been linked. This led to the size of Lambert and Silvester’s offending changing into clear.
‘These offences had been an astonishing abuse of place. These two thieves, whose jobs had been to take care of these in want, had been plotting and stealing essential medicine from terminally unwell sufferers. Lots of their victims have since handed away and can by no means know that justice has been executed. Our investigation was carried out, figuring out we needed to symbolize these victims and do the perfect for them.
‘My ideas are with the households of all those that had been focused by these thieves. We thank them for his or her help throughout what should have been an already tough and unhappy time for them.’
Dr Fionna Moore, Medical Director for South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Basis Belief, mentioned final night time (TUES): ‘We’re shocked and saddened on the lengths to which these former members of employees went to, to commit their crimes and our ideas are with all these affected.
‘Their behaviour was a transparent and focused abuse of their place and doesn’t mirror the dedication and integrity of our employees. As quickly as we turned conscious of the allegations, we took swift motion to droop after which dismiss each people, working carefully with Kent Police.’
