Cruel Scots carer who swiped £50,000 from her own parents jailed
- Rory Cassidy
- Jun 4
- 2 min read
A carer has been jailed and banned from contacting her own parents, after admitting stealing £50,000 from them.
Donna Devine swiped the cash from Jennifer and Patrick Devine over a three-year period.
And she has now been jailed for 27 months over the crime.
She was jailed when she returned to the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court, having admitted her guilt previously.
She was also made the subject of a five-year Non-Harassment Order (NHO).
The NHO bans her from approaching or contacting or attempting to approach or contact her parents in any way.
The 46-year-old had been charged with stealing £69,096, but struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to pilfering the reduced sum.
She admitted stealing "£50,000 or thereby" between March 21, 2020, and March 10, 2023.
Devine, of Paisley, admitted taking the money from her parents' home in Elderslie, Renfrewshire.
Her mother Jennifer, 69, and father Patrick, 73, were cited as witnesses in the case.
They would have been due to give evidence against her had she gone on trial over the single charge of theft she faced.
But they do not now need to take the stand, with the court hearing that her mother suffers from ill health.
Defence solicitor David Nicholson, a partner in law firm McCusker, McElroy and Gallanagh, told the court previously: "Her mother's health has deteriorated significantly."
In April, Sheriff Gillian Craig called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing and adjourned the case for that to be done.
As she did so, she said: "You have pleaded guilty to a serious matter.
"I'm going to call for background reports as I want to learn more about you."
The first offender was also subject to a Restriction of Liberty Order assessment to determine whether or not she should be fitted with an electronic tag and given a daily curfew to abide by as a punishment.
But when she returned to the dock this week to learn her fate, Sheriff Craig ruled there was only one way she could deal with Devine, and jailed her for two years and three months.
There are no proceeds of crime proceedings against Devine and she was not ordered to pay compensation - meaning she does not have to repay
Devine's Facebook page showed that she worked as a Support Worker with HRM Homecare.
During the coronavirus pandemic, she posted online about how she was unable to stay home during lockdown due to her job.
She posted a picture in April 2020 which contained a frame with the words, "I can't stay home, I'm a social care worker".
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