A care service manager stole thousands of pounds from people with learning disabilities to fund her gambling addiction in a “disgraceful” betrayal of trust.

Laura Hancock, from Ramsgate, tricked vulnerable users of Seeds Care into handing over their savings and also misused a company credit card to pocket a total of more than £17,500.

The thief was the service manager at the Broadstairs facility – which supports people living in their homes – when she started telling clients they needed to withdraw cash to pay their rent.

But at a court hearing, prosecutor Kiera Vinall explained that in reality Hancock was using the money herself for gambling.

“Concerns were initially raised by an employee after she realised that rent money was being taken by Ms Hancock,” said Ms Vinall.

“It was also noticed that savings tins were missing from their place in the main office.

“Hancock then admitted that she had been taking the money due to a gambling addiction.”

The 32-year-old, of Stirling Way, committed the fraud and thefts over a period of 18 months between March 2020 and September 2021.

She targeted six Seeds Care clients, all of whom had learning disabilities.

Hancock took one victim – Kallum Ryder - to an ATM to withdraw cash under the guise of paying his rent.

It was later discovered that Mr Ryder had no rent payments to make and had been swindled to the tune of £3,980.

On other occasions, Hancock lied about buying clients furniture, pocketed money that their families had sent them, took cash from their savings tins, or simply withdrew funds using the company credit card.

She also abused her authority as manager to mislead staff into taking residents to cashpoints and delivering to her envelopes filled with banknotes.

After Hancock’s crimes were uncovered, she confessed to bosses before being turned into police.

With tears in her eyes, Seeds Care director Angela Rankin told Canterbury Crown Court of the impact Hancock’s crimes have had.

“I’ll never forgive you Laura for what you did, never...”

“When Laura told me I was overcome with anger and grief,” she said.

“What she has done is despicable and unimaginable - these people trusted her and their sense of trust was completely broken, as is mine.

“I’ll never forgive you Laura for what you did, never.”

Fellow director Zara Reyes said for a time there were fears among staff that the service would shut.

“We have had to have difficult conversations with service users and their families and we have faced damage to our reputation, which we have worked so hard to build,” said Ms Reyes.

“It caused uncertainty among staff, as they were worried that Seeds might close down.

“We have now reimbursed all the service users at our business at our own cost, but Laura’s breach of trust continues to make me doubt people.”

Hancock pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and three counts of fraud by abuse of position.

Mitigating, defence barrister Nargees Choudhury attributed Hancock’s behaviour to her struggles with addiction.

“All this stems from her gambling, which started when she was 16,” said Choudhury.

“She has engaged with a number of different approaches to try to tackle the issue, including hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

“She never thought that she would hit rock bottom, but now she feels like that when she goes to work every day as a cleaner.

“The only word that comes to mind is tragic.”

“This may have been a financial crime for you, but its impact is far beyond financial - victims lost their sense of trust...”

But Judge James Taylor KC took issue with this sympathetic portrayal of the defendant.

“Actually, the only word that comes to mind is disgraceful,” he interjected.

Ms Choudhury went on to explain that Hancock is the sole caregiver for her mother, who is dying of cancer.

“Her deepest regret would be if her mother dies while she’s in prison - she would have to live with that forever,” she said.

The barrister added that Hancock had previously kept her addiction a secret, but now has a support network of friends and family who are aware of her habit.

The court heard that since the scandal, she has not gambled at all.

Handing down Hancock’s punishment, Judge Taylor considered not only her crimes and their effect, but also the conduct of Seeds Care.

“This may have been a financial crime for you, but its impact is far beyond financial - victims lost their sense of trust,” said Judge Taylor.

“But far from wash their hands of the responsibility to the vulnerable adults that you stole from, what this company did was reimburse their clients.

“In 25 years of prosecuting, defending and being a judge in this court, I have not heard of a company behaving so responsibly, and it should be commended for that.”

In deciding whether or not to pass a custodial sentence, the judge weighed the seriousness of the crimes against arguments put forward in mitigation.

“But make no mistake, I want this sentence to have a detrimental impact on your life...”

“I note that you were a long-term addict to gambling and I accept the explanation for your offence,” he said.

“You yourself identified that you had a problem and it is very sad for everyone that you failed to rid yourself of this addiction which has blighted you.

“You have privately funded a rehabilitation course and continue to work with gamblers anonymous.

“But the deal breaker here is that your immediate custody would have an effect on others - you would not be there to comfort your mother.

“So the sentence of two years will be suspended for two years.

“But make no mistake, I want this sentence to have a detrimental impact on your life.”

In addition to the suspended sentence, the judge also instructed the thief to complete 250 hours of unpaid work in the community and 20 days of rehabilitation.

“So you are clear - I have imposed a prison sentence on you and if you breach the sentence you will go to prison because I will reserve any breach hearing for myself,” the judge warned.

“I will not give you a second chance.”

Speaking after the sentencing, one of Hancock’s victims told of the lasting impact of her crimes and questioned why she was allowed to walk free.

Craig Fuller says the care manager, who he had known for five years, was “getting money out of me like it was water”.

“She took loads of cash out of my savings tin,” he said.

“It had taken me a very long time to save up that money - a very, very long time.

“I knew there was something fishy about her from the beginning - I knew it!

“When it all came out that she had been stealing from people it made me feel angry, upset, really annoyed.

“She literally betrayed me. It makes me think I don’t want to trust anyone anymore.

“For what she’s done she should have gone straight to jail. It feels to me that she’s getting away with this and it’s not fair.”

Ms Reyes also questioned why her former employee had not been sent straight to jail.

“We are disappointed about the suspended sentence due to the high vulnerability of the people we support and the fact that as the registered manager, Laura was in a position of the highest trust,” said Ms Reyes.

“We hope this outcome is enough of a deterrent for her not to do the same thing to others in the future, and after two years of waiting would like to focus now on moving forward to a brighter future for all.”