Nurse gambled on deceased’s bank card

A former nurse at the University Hospital of Hartlepool in Britain was jailed Tuesday for stealing the bank cards of a dying 87-year-old patient and using them on a three-month internet gambling spree after the pensioner passed on.

Rubilita Coggin (48) was sentenced to 15 months in prison by Judge Peter Bowers at the Teeside Crown Court for what the judge described as “particularly mean and despicable offences”.

It was an ignominious end to a 20-year nursing career for Coggin, who wept as she was taken away by officials after the court found that she had preyed upon an elderly lady in hospital during her final illness.

Prosecutor Sue Jacobs led evidence that Coggin stole two credit cards from the seriously ill pensioner when she was admitted to the hospital in May last year. The patient died two weeks later, but Coggin continued to use the cards for three months to spend almost GBP 5,000 on an un-named online gambling site.

The theft was only discovered when the victim’s husband noticed irregularities on the account statements, and reported it to the local police.

Subsequent investigations showed that Coggin visited the internet site at all hours of the day – including when she was on duty – and gambled between GBP 10 and GBP 600 a day.

The two cards had been used 168 times before police caught up with the defendant and arrested her at her work station on a ward for the elderly and stroke victims.

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