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Care Home Manager Jailed for Forged Will as Owners' Sentencing Delayed

A Trading Standards probe began following a complaint from the victim's cousin.

Overview

  • Jamiel Slaney-Summers, 65, was jailed for five and a half years after a jury conviction, in a case described by authorities as one of the UK's most significant elder‑fraud prosecutions.
  • The judge said Slaney-Summers "groomed and isolated" 85-year-old Rita Barnsley, exploiting her frailty and failing eyesight.
  • A will branded a sham showed differing handwriting and ink colors, surfaced the day after Barnsley died in 2021, and named Slaney-Summers and Lyn Walker as executors and main beneficiaries.
  • Prosecutors said the trio sought most of an estate worth about £178,000, comprising a £150,000 house sale and roughly £28,000 in savings, with a quarter left to cousin Verna Woolley.
  • Investigators found Slaney-Summers secretly withdrew around £6,000 from Barnsley's accounts, with some spent on online bingo, while sentencing for Graham and Lyn Walker was adjourned after Graham Walker was taken to hospital.