Bogus nurse and her accomplice imprisoned for defrauding elderly residents
A pair of callous con artists who preyed on the elderly and infirm have been sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison. Their conviction for numerous artifice offences across West London including Chiswick, Hammersmith and Fulham follows an intensive Police investigation.
The method employed by Kerry Reilly and her accomplice Nicholas Williams was particularly cruel in that Reilly would dress as a nurse claiming that she was attending the victims address to check on their health. After gaining entry to the victim's home, Reilly would say that she was allergic to cats ensuring that the victim's 'examination' would take place in the bathroom allowing Williams to enter the premises and steal personal property.
Burglary Squad's Dc Ian Maynard said "The effect that this breach of trust had on the victims can not be over emphasised and effectively made them feel completely vulnerable and unable to trust anyone."
Burglary Squad officers spent considerable time reviewing CCTV footage which produced images of two suspects, although nothing of them actually using the credit cards. However, Detectives were able to identify a pattern with one of the stolen credit cards being used at a Tesco store in Milton Keynes. This subsequently lead to the suspects being stopped at the store and arrested. The investigation then snowballed with a search of the suspects' premises uncovering an Aladdin's cave of stolen articles and equipment for the cloning of credit cards proving that Williams and Reilly had been responsible for numerous other artifice offences.
Nicholas Williams and Kerry Reilly were sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court after pleading guilty to their involvement in a series of eight distraction burglaries across West London, dating from September 2004 to May 2005. The victims were all elderly and infirm and included a 97 year old female and a terminally ill man with cancer.
Sentencing Williams to seven years and Reilly to four years' imprisonment on Friday 25 November, Judge Byers said "This is the type of crime society hates. These sentences reflect the distaste of society and serve to punish you and deter others from committing the same types of crime."
Dc Maynard said "The Burglary Squad have worked tirelessly over the last couple of years and have achieved an amazing detection rate for residential burglary. This is another example how the whole unit working together as a team to serve the public and surpass the MPS objectives."
December 6, 2005