Carlisle women sentenced for stealing from housebound man

A third woman has today been sentenced for stealing money from an 88–year-old man in March this year.

Kelly Bowman, 47, has been sentenced today to 27 weeks' imprisonment for theft, attempted theft and fraud on 18 and 19 March 2024. Last month, Lisa Nunn, 44, and Rachael Dixon, 32, were sentenced for the same offences.

On 5 October 2023 Nunn and Dixon attended the housebound man's home in Carlisle, claiming to know his late wife. He invited them in to talk, and they asked victim for money.

The man refused but he agreed for them to get him a bottle of whiskey from the local Co-Op, and he gave them his bank card and PIN. They purchased the whiskey as he had requested which they delivered to him, along with the card.

On 18 March 2024 Nunn and Dixon returned to the man's home with Bowman. He again gave them his card, asking them to purchase shopping for him.

This time, none of the women returned with any shopping or the bank card, which was cancelled and reported as stolen the following day.

Enquiries with the bank showed that £551.55 in cash had been withdrawn from the account and items had been purchased totalling £171.70.

All three women were arrested having been identified on CCTV using the bank card. Dixon was captured on CCTV withdrawing cash from an ATM in the Post Office and purchasing items from the Co-op.

Bowman was captured purchasing items in Bargain Booze and Nunn was captured withdrawing cash from the ATM outside the Co-op.

They all refused to answer questions in their police interviews but later pleaded guilty.

On 7 June 2024 at Carlisle Crown Court, Lisa Nunn was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and Rachael Dixon was sentenced to 11 months' imprisonment. Kelly Bowman was today sentenced at the same court.

Paul Robinson, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: "Kelly Bowman, Lisa Nunn and Rachael Dixon deliberately targeted an elderly man out of pure greed and took advantage of the trust he placed in them.

"In his victim impact statement, the man said he was afraid that if he hadn't reported them to the police, they may have targeted him again.

"This sort of crime is intrusive and can have a devastating impact on a person's confidence and independence, so we will continue to work with the police to bring anyone who commits such offences to justice."