Dudley Care Home Owners Sentenced for Elaborate £178k Fraud Against Pensioner
A married couple from Halesowen have been imprisoned for their role in a calculated scheme to defraud an elderly care home resident of her £178,000 life savings through a fabricated will.
Graham Walker, aged 74, and Lyn Walker, 71, both proprietors of a care facility, were each handed three-year prison sentences at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday, February 4. The court heard how they conspired with care home manager Jamiel Slaney-Summers to financially exploit 85-year-old Rita Barnsley, a resident at Amberley Care Home in Brierley Hill.
A Sham Will and Deliberate Isolation
The prosecution detailed how Slaney-Summers created a fraudulent last will and testament for Ms Barnsley, using "different coloured pens" and exhibiting "different writing". This bogus document named Slaney-Summers and Lyn Walker as executors and attempted to bequeath 75% of the estate to the conspirators, leaving only 25% to the victim's legitimate heir, her cousin Verna.
Judge John Butterfield condemned the defendants' actions, stating: "This was a situation which presented itself to you but you reacted with greed, rather than with concern and honesty." He noted deliberate efforts were made to isolate Ms Barnsley from her family, effectively choking off communication with her cousin to increase her reliance on the care home staff.
The Unravelling of the Plot
The fraud began to unravel when Verna, Ms Barnsley's octogenarian cousin, reviewed the will and noticed she was incorrectly described as an "adopted cousin"—a term she insisted was never used. Her suspicions prompted a complaint to Dudley Council's trading standards team, which launched one of Britain's most significant investigations into elder fraud.
Evidence presented in court revealed Graham Walker had taken the forged will to a solicitor and initiated contact with an estate agent to sell Ms Barnsley's home, which was ultimately sold for £150,000 in November 2022. Combined with £28,000 held in her bank account, the total estate value targeted was at least £178,000.
Sentencing and Aftermath
In addition to their prison terms, the Walkers were ordered to pay £30,000 in costs within one year. Their sentencing had been delayed after Graham Walker was hospitalised the night before a previous court date. Defence barrister Henery Skudry cited his client's severe health issues, including a major bowel operation and potential lung cancer concerns, while Lyn Walker suffers from multiple chronic conditions.
Slaney-Summers, the scheme's instigator, was previously sentenced to five-and-a-half years imprisonment in December 2025 for her central role in creating the forged document and making unauthorised withdrawals from Ms Barnsley's account.
Councillor Phil Atkins, Dudley Council's cabinet member for development and regulation, welcomed the sentencing: "It brings to an end a long and painstaking investigation by our superb trading standards team. Their intentions were clear – to fleece this poor, vulnerable woman of all the money she had worked her whole life to earn. This case is a warning that as a council we will not tolerate elder abuse."
All three defendants were convicted following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court in October 2025, having denied charges of fraud between May 2020 and December 2021.
