- .June Weatherman, 50, stole phones, credit cards and cash from hospitals
- .Targeted patients who were medicated or too ill to know what was going on
- .Most were in their 80s and two subsequently died from their condition
- .Weatherman used one victim's card 199 times to buy £6,322 worth of goods
June Weatherman, 50, has been jailed for seven years after being found guilty of posing as a doctor to stealing from elderly cancer patients
A woman who posed as a hospital doctor to steal from the bedsides of ill and dying patients was jailed for seven years today.
June Weatherman stole from elderly cancer patients, mostly aged in the eighties, taking their bank cards before withdrawing thousands of pounds from their accounts.
When she was arrested she tried to claim she was only being targeted because she was mixed race, but was ultimately convicted of 15 charges of theft and fraud at Guilford Crown Court.
Prosecuter Ruby Selva said that Weatherman, 50, had stalked the corridors of hospitals across the South of England looking for opportunities to steal handbags and wallets.
She said: 'June Weatherman carried out a string of dishonest offences over a period of time under rather mean circumstances.'
The jury of seven men and five women heard how Weatherman had 'brazenly' targeted people who were recovering from surgery and general anaesthetic or were too ill to know what was happening.
Her victims were elderly, mostly aged in their 80s, and two - Linda Connor and Aileen Henderson - went on to die from their illnesses.
Pamela Verrinder was aged 87 when she had her handbag stolen from her room at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey, last September, the jury heard.
Weatherman had already admitted using Mrs Verrinder’s HSBC card on 119 occasions to buy £6,322 of goods, and CCTV footage was played to the jury of her stalking the corridors at the hospital.
While recovering from surgery at St Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, in September last year, Jean Cooper had her mobile phone, purse and its contents taken while she was unable to speak.
Jurors were shown CCTV of Weatherman in the hospital that day, where an ATM withdrawal on Ms Cooper’s NatWest card was declined.
'She is, in effect, caught red-handed using Jean Cooper’s card,' said Miss Selva.
After being arrested, Weatherman claimed she was only being targeted because she was mixed race, but hospital CCTV (pictured) and mobile phone records linked her to the crimes
She used other stolen bank cards to fraudulently withdraw money at locations in Essex, Cambridgeshire, Kent and London.
Police obtained mobile phone evidence tying numbers associated with Weatherman to the locations and dates of the crimes she was alleged to have committed.
In interviews following her arrest on in January , Weatherman, of no fixed address but originally from Essex, claimed she had been set up and that she was being targeted because she is mixed race.
Temporary Detective Sergeant Andy Jenkins, said: 'I would like to thank the members of the public who came forward to identity June Weatherman - it is without doubt that their information was crucial in helping us bring this woman to justice.
'Weatherman’s brazen actions in targeting and deceiving elderly and vulnerable patients whilst in the process of receiving medical care were particularly callous acts on her part - the impact this sort of offence can have on the victims and their families cannot be underestimated.
'I hope that the custodial sentence given to Weatherman today acts as a deterrent to anyone considering preying on the vulnerable in such a cold and calculated manner and also illustrates the seriousness of these crimes.'
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