Pensioner duped by carer loses over £3000

Four years ago the carer of James McCormack told him that her sister did not have the money to bury her dead son so James, of Cedar Crescent, agreed to give Marianne McDonald £790 to help with the burial costs.

But it soon became evident to James that he had been told a pack of lies by Ms McDonald who made off with the money herself.

James won a private action at Dunfermline Sheriff Court in his bid to get his money back but Ms McDonald claimed she did not have the funds to pay him back and he has been trying various avenues to recover his cash without success.

However, when MP Gordon Brown stepped in to offer help his team had some success without getting the £790 back. After some correspondence back and forth with Carewatch, the company who employed Ms McDonald, they agreed to make a ‘goodwill payment’ of £250.

Said former coal miner James, now well into his seventies, this week, “It has been a very long haul but now it seems I have done everything I can to try and recoup the £790.

“Gordon Brown’s staff have done their best and have been able to get £250 thanks to Carewatch but it looks like my former carer has got away with her actions.

“When you take into consideration the £790, solicitors’ fees, court expenses of £400, which were awarded to me without me getting a penny, it all adds up to around £3500 the whole thing has cost me. In retrospect I should never have believed her story without hard evidence but we are all that much wiser after the event.

“Her story was tear-jerking but all the time she knew what she was doing and I am the loser.” He added, “The thing was that she offered to pay me back at £100 per week but then disappeared.

“I suppose at the end of the day £250 is a paltry amount when it is considered what this experience has cost me, but I have learned the hard way and will never again be duped in the manner that woman ripped me off. I suppose that £250 is better than nothing but it is sad the way the whole thin has worked out.”