Herts County Council Must Apologise over Social Worker Thefts

A former Herts County Council social worker has pleaded guilty to seven counts of theft from vulnerable people she was the Careworker for. She now awaits sentencing.

Lorraine Graves, the former social worker, pleaded guilty on July 3rd. This has finally allowed her victims and their families and friends to see justice done, two years after the crimes came to light.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader, County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst commented, "It has become clear that this woman defrauded vulnerable people of thousands of pounds from their Council-run banks accounts. It is totally unacceptable that a Council worker was able to abuse their position like this."

"Hertfordshire County Council must now offer a public apology to the victims, their friends and their families, not only for the thefts themselves, but also for the anguish and distress this has caused them. It has taken two years for this to come to court. This has been very distressing for many of those concerned and made worse by the length of time to reach this point".

Cllr Ron Tindall.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Adult Care, County Councillor Ron Tindall also commented, saying, "The County Council now needs to demonstrated to the public that they have learned lessons from this and have put systems in place to ensure such theft can never happen again. Thousands of pounds were stolen from people who could not look after themselves. The public need to be reassured that elderly people and their money and property is safe in council care."

"The County Council must transparently and openly investigate and prove to the people of Hertfordshire that they have taken appropriate measures to protect vulnerable people they are caring for."