Carer who defrauded her patient out of £20,000 jailed

Petula Hatzer (27/03/1968) of Mortlake Drive, Manchester has been sentenced to 1 year and 1 month in prison after pleading guilty to 10 counts of fraud by false representation and 1 count of Fraud by Abuse of position at Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday (13 March 2024). 

Hatzer was arrested in 2021 after allegations were made to police by another one of the victim’s carers, who expressed concern in October 2020 that Hatzer was opening credit card and catalogue accounts in the victim’s name, which had been ongoing for several years.

The victim in this case is extremely vulnerable and is cared 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by people who the victim and her family should have been able to trust.

Petula Hatzer has been a carer to the victim for approximately 17 years.   

Following the report made to police, a number of photographs and letters were passed to detectives for them to start their investigation.

This uncovered that 10 accounts were opened in the victim’s name, due to the victim having no capacity, and never having capacity, she has never been able to open any kind of credit account. Therefore, this had to have been done by another person.

Petula Hatzer was arrested at her home address following a warrant issued by GMP in 2021, a number of credit cards and letters were seized from her home for further analysis.

When initially interviewed under caution by police, Hatzer admitted to opening accounts in the victim’s name and using them for her own personal gain but showed little remorse for her crimes.

As the investigation progressed more evidence came to light and Hatzer was interviewed under caution again, but this time replied with no comment.

Detective Constable Emma Maders of GMP’s Criminal Investigation Department, said: “This is a very upsetting and devastating crime that had led to a particularly vulnerable victim being taking advantage of in her own home.

“Hatzer was in a position of trust where she was expected to safeguard and act in the best interests of the victim and instead of doing this, for a number of years, she was using her identity to open various accounts using the personal details and identity of the victim for her own financial gain.

"Furthermore, Hatzer also accessed an existing bank account containing the victim’s money, which was intended to be used solely for the victims’ daily needs, such as food and clothing, and by doing so Hatzer deprived the victim of this money and took it for herself.

“The victim was dependent on Hatzer and she was trusted to provide a good standard of care. When the crimes were identified, the family were left devastated by her deceit, as Hatzer was someone they treated as part of the family.

“Due to the emotional trauma suffered by the family, we are continuing to provide the relevant support to them.

“Be assured that this is the robust action we will take to protect a vulnerable person in our community.

“I want to take this opportunity to encourage anyone else in the community who may be in this situation, or believes someone to be a victim of it, to please report it either in person to someone you know and trust, to a police officer or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously.”