5 years jail for Leicester NHS bereavement adviser’s £753k fraud

An NHS bereavement adviser, who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from the estates of dead patients, has been jailed for five years at Leicester Crown Court.

This follows an extensive investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Service and Leicestershire Police Economic Crime Unit.

Yvette Adams, 46, of Tudor Drive, Oadby, Leicester, worked for University Hospitals Leicester as a Bereavement Adviser, but went outside her remit to involve herself in deceased patients’ estates. This included suggesting to grieving families that she could relieve them of the bureaucratic burden of obtaining Grant of Probate, which gave her power to liquidate assets and accounts.

She made fraudulent applications to Leicester Registry Office in relation to seven patients who died intestate (without a will) some of whom, she claimed, had no traceable relatives. She also forged letters of authority from supposed distant relatives of deceased patients, sometimes inventing their names or using the names of her unwitting friends.

After the death of one patient, Adams amended their will to name herself as the executor, then wound up the £240,000 estate and retained the money. The intended beneficiaries who lost out included the charities The Red Cross, Age Concern, and Leicestershire and Rutland Organisation for the Relief of Suffering, a hospice charity.

The Red Cross investigated after being bequeathed £10,000 but not receiving it. Adams eventually paid them the money. LOROS were bequeathed £20,000 plus any residual value of the estate, but were not aware of it, and received nothing.

One family received much less for their relative’s £260,000 estate than it was worth, as the adviser had diverted much of it to herself. She searched the house of the deceased patient (part of the normal role of a bereavement adviser), but only wrote a cursory letter to a relative whose old address she found there, and did not follow it up properly or inform the Treasury Solicitors to take up the search. Instead, Adams took over the relative’s identity to forge a letter of authority to act on her behalf, to obtain the probate.

The relative had, in 2008, tried to get in touch with her uncle and was informed he had died in 2006. After making further enquiries at the hospital, she learned (not from Adams) that her uncle’s estate had been a valuable one. At this point, in danger of being exposed, Adams paid £100,000 to the niece.

Her criminal activities emerged after she was challenged by colleagues and resigned suddenly during a meeting.

In mitigation, Adams argued that the money she took would have gone to the state, and that she had better uses for it – for example she used some of the money to fund music festivals. But she also admitted obtaining a lifestyle she could not otherwise have afforded, including a £37,000 BMW she paid for in cash.

Adams had a portfolio of mortgaged properties including flats, and a narrowboat. These are all being sold, along with an antique organ, and the proceeds will be used to part-compensate the victims of her frauds. Police have recovered some assets already. A date has also been set for 6th August 2010 for confiscation proceedings to commence. Adams’ assets are currently frozen.