Care firm launches 'full review' after carer stole from vulnerable South Tyneside residents

The Comfort Call agency, which provides home care services to residents across South Tyneside and has a local base on Blue Sky Way, Hebburn, said it ‘takes the safeguarding of the vulnerable people that use its services very seriously’ after magistrates were told employee Rumana Khatun had stolen £480 from elderly clients.

Khatun, 22, of Penrith Road, Hebburn, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and one charge of engaging in regulated activity from which she had been banned.

She secured a carer job at the firm despite having been barred from working in the sector for four years.

Khatun had been disqualified from working with vulnerable people or young adults by the Data Prosecution Service (DPS) earlier this year.

She awaits sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court on Wednesday, October 28.

Magistrates said they found it ‘particularly despicable’ Khatun had breached the trust of her vulnerable victims.

Max Wurr, a senior spokesperson for the firm, said: “Comfort Call takes the safeguarding of the vulnerable people that use its services very seriously and we are pleased to hear that justice has been done in this case.

"We are currently undertaking a full review of the circumstances that led to Ms Khatun having access to people that use our services, and this includes carefully checking the records of all our other existing staff.

"We will be working with the local authority and the Care Quality Commission to ensure that lessons are learned for the protection of the many people we support in the area.

"Our thoughts are with the victims of Ms Khatun’s crimes.”

Khatun admitted having been spoken to by police in May after her Comfort Call application was picked up by a DBS vetting system.

Despite it being a criminal offence to work as a carer while officially barred, Khatun was able to land the job.

Prosecutor Gurjot Kaur told the magistrates court: “The complainants are all residents who are looked after by Comfort Call.”

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