A WOMAN who used her position working at a Poole law firm to exploit vulnerable clients and take more than £11,500 of their money has been jailed.

Emma Charlotte Amey, of Honeysuckle Lane, Poole, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by abuse of position at Poole Magistrates’ Court on May 14.

The fraudulent activity took place between October 2021 and October 2023 and involved two male victims, who were living in residential homes.

Amey was working as a paralegal in the wills and probate department at a law firm in Poole at the time of her offending.

The 45-year-old’s work involved managing accounts for clients, where the firm held power of attorney, and she would pay expenses or bills on their behalf using a chequebook or debit card.

READ MORE: Crime news from your New Stour & Avon

An investigation began in February 2024 after the bank returned a potentially fraudulent cheque to the law firm.

When the law firm looked into the matter, they found the corresponding cheque stub was made out to a care company. However, the cheque itself was addressed to Amey for a total of £3,400.

The employer confronted Amey, who admitted taking money using cheques. Once the cheques had been signed by another representative at the firm, she used an erasable pen to change the payee’s name to her own.

She also admitted using debit cards belonging to the victims to withdraw cash for herself and for online transactions and in total, stole £11,568 from the two victims.

On July 11, she was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court.

During sentencing, the judge described Amey’s actions as despicable and contrived.

After the hearing, Detective Constable Lucy Hale, of the Economic Crime Unit at Dorset Police, added: “Emma Amey was entrusted with looking after the day-to-day finances of vulnerable and she abused her position for personal gain making deliberate attempts to avoid detection.

“We are committed to investigating reports such as this to ensure that fraudsters are held to account for their offending. This type of crime has the potential to impact the public’s confidence in the power of attorney scheme and I am pleased that we were able to restore some trust and make sure that the defendant was brought to justice.”