Trainee paramedic who stole from patient jailed

Anna Mogford withdrew nearly £500 at a hospital cash point, where she was filmed on CCTV

A trainee paramedic who stole an 87-year-old patient's purse during an emergency call-out has been jailed.

Anna Mogford, 38, took Joyce Bealey's bank card and PIN number from the purse and used them to withdraw £1,400.

On Thursday at Exeter Crown Court, Mogford, of Cullompton, was jailed for six months.

The judge, Recorder Martin Meeke, QC, told her the offence was a breach of trust and one that the public would view with "distaste".

Sentencing her, Mr Meeke said: "Your culpability was between high and medium, given the breach of trust and your responsibility towards a patient.

"The public views conduct such as this with concern and distaste."

The court previously heard how the South Western Ambulance Service driver and a colleague were called to Mrs Bealey's home after she broke eight ribs in a fall at her bungalow in Stoke Canon, near Exeter, on 1 July 2017.

The South Western Ambulance Service says Anna Mogford "no longer works for the trust"

Mogford took the items while left alone and then - after driving Mrs Bealey to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital - used the card four times in nine hours to make withdrawals at three different ATMs, including one at the hospital.

'Family and financial pressures'

At an earlier hearing, Mogford, of Cullompton, was found guilty of theft of the purse and fraudulent use of her bank card.

The mother-of-two admitted perverting the course of justice by producing false bank statements for the police.

Mogford was caught on CCTV withdrawing cash from a Tesco shop in Exeter and from the ATM at the hospital.

Francesca Whebell, defending, said Mogford, a paramedic for 17 years, had given blameless public service over that time and committed these offences at a time when she was under family and financial pressures.

Following the trial last month South Western Ambulance Trust said Mogford "no longer works for the trust".