A tribunal found Rebecca Burwood used “manipulation and coercion” against a care home resident who had no family. Burwood was deputy manager at the home when the exploitation took place.
Rebecca Burwood, a nurse, has been struck off the register after a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel found she took about £770,000 from a “vulnerable and lonely” 99-year-old woman. She was deputy manager at Bryn Yr Haul Care Home in Mold, north Wales, between 2017 and 2023. The panel heard the money paid for vehicles, home improvements, utility bills and council tax. It was also alleged to have paid for private cosmetic surgery. The panel called her actions “deplorable and a disgrace to the profession”.
How the money was taken
The woman had no family. The panel heard she became vulnerable and lonely after a fall and came to rely on Burwood for friendship and company. Before she moved into the care home in 2018, she had transferred ownership of her £400,000 house. On 5 May 2018, Burwood became her Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) for property and financial affairs, allegedly without telling anyone at the home.
Records showed more than £370,000 left the woman’s bank account over five years, including £160,000 in large ATM cash withdrawals. Burwood also persuaded her to spend £20,000 on a car and £9,000 on a campervan, saying the vehicles would let them go on day trips together. The committee found she used “emotional blackmail”, telling the woman she could not take her out if she did not have access to her money. It found she was “withdrawing large sums of money almost daily”.
The bank froze the account over concerns about the spending. Burwood tried to have the restrictions lifted and took the woman to a bank branch. Staff described her as “almost blackmailing” the woman and said she had told the pensioner to ask for the account to be unlocked. The bank referred the matter to North Wales Police. The force took no further action because the woman, who has since died, did not want to make a complaint.
What the panel concluded
The committee heard the woman regarded Burwood as a friend and believed she had “learned from her mistakes”. However, she had told safeguarding staff she was shocked and disappointed by how much had been spent. The panel said this undermined Burwood’s claim that the woman had approved giving her assets, including her home and large sums of cash. It added that it was “improbable” the woman would “knowingly and willingly” have given away her home and substantial sums, leaving herself with a modest amount of cash and at risk of being unable to fund her own care.
In written statements, Burwood said: “I now recognise that, even where a gift is offered voluntarily or with good intentions, as was the case here for me, accepting anything beyond a trivial token can compromise, or appear to compromise, professional judgment.”
She described the woman as “not only someone I later encountered in a professional context, but someone I had known for many years and came to see as a dear friend and grandmother-type figure”. She added: “I had no understanding of the scope of an LPA and now recognise that this was a major failing on my part.”
Further findings from the decision
According to the research notes, the decision also covers a second person, identified only as Person B, a friend of Burwood and a former neighbour of the woman. Both held lasting power of attorney. An April 2023 safeguarding referral recorded an admission by Person B of financially abusing the pensioner, involving about £200,000 over two years. Person B also reportedly bought a car for £17,795 with the woman’s money. The panel considered three vehicles excessive for taking her on day trips. The £200,000 should not be added to the £770,000 figure, as the amounts may overlap.
Other details reported from the decision include:
- A March 2023 assessment estimated the woman could privately fund her care for only 23 more months, after which she would need help from the local authority.
- Burwood and Person B reportedly said building work at their properties would have let the woman live with them if there was another Covid outbreak. The panel examined evidence that the work had been paid for before the first lockdown.
- A May 2023 account from the care home’s manager said the woman told her solicitor she had not authorised the people managing her finances to spend her money on themselves.
- Burwood told the regulator she did not intend to work in nursing or with vulnerable adults again. The panel still judged striking off necessary. It noted some remorse but said she had not sufficiently acknowledged the dishonesty of her conduct or shown the risk of repetition had been addressed.
The regulatory process
Police and safeguarding concerns were recorded in March 2023, and a multi-agency safeguarding meeting followed in June 2023. An interim suspension was imposed in December 2024 and confirmed in November 2025. The final hearing ran from 28 September to 8 October 2026, and the striking-off order was made on 8 October. The decision carries a 28-day appeal period, during which an interim suspension prevents Burwood from practising. There is no confirmation that she has appealed.
Burwood was struck off following a professional disciplinary finding. She has not been convicted of theft in a criminal court. The NMC’s process also does not provide financial restitution. The records reviewed do not show that the house, the vehicles or any of the money was recovered.
