‘She took over their lives’: Cancer nurse struck off after abusing position to gain inheritance
Ian Percival was walking his dog, Snowy, along the coast near his home in South Wales, when he met Anita George, a cancer nurse at a local Swansea hospital. It was the same route he took every night, but this time he stopped.
“She happened to be on the promenade and crying about her relationship, I believe,” says Ian’s daughter Helen, who doesn’t think that meeting was a coincidence.
What happened next set in motion a chain of events that would lead to allegations of financial grooming, neglect and an NHS nurse being struck off.
Ian Percival was a wealthy businessman in his 70s, who worked as an investor in property and an insurance broker. Part of his business involved renting homes to NHS staff locally.
“Dad was a workaholic, he loved it,” his son, Richard, says fondly.
Ian and his wife, Margaret, who were married for more than 50 years, were well-known and well-liked figures in the Swansea area.
Ian and Margaret as a young couple
Anita was a seemingly trustworthy nurse – who, just three days after meeting Ian, moved into one of his properties to help look after Margaret, who had mobility problems. It was a private arrangement, a deal struck personally, not through the NHS.
“I was doubtful about her from day one,” says Richard.
This is the first time Ian’s children have spoken publicly about what happened, from their home in Brisbane, Australia.
Anita George with Ian and Margaret
‘She took over their lives’
As time went on, they became increasingly concerned about how involved Anita was becoming with their parents. When Ian was diagnosed with cancer, she began also caring for him.
“She took over our parents’ lives. She was constantly with them,” Richard recalls. Increasingly, he felt she was coming between their parents and isolating them from their family.
“Mum was getting excluded,” says Richard. “I felt that she [Anita] had full control, which I have never witnessed before. I just don’t understand how, after mum and dad being together for 52 years, things she did changed everything.”
Margaret and Anita
Helen says Anita’s professional credentials initially reassured her. “I trusted her because she was a nurse at a local hospital.”
But in the months before Ian’s death in December 2016, she could tell things had drastically changed. Anita was refusing to take care of their mother, Helen claims. Instead, she focused all her attention on Ian.
It wasn’t until their father died, that Helen and Richard became aware of the extent of Anita’s involvement with Ian. They believe she’d struck up an inappropriate personal relationship, manipulating him for financial gain.
As they investigated, they moved Margaret to live with them in Australia, where she later died in 2018.
“On dad’s computer, we managed to find some evidence. We thought, this is crazy. I don’t understand… so it made us dig deeper,” says Richard.
Richard with his parents
Cash, a car and property
Ian had given her nearly £15,000 in cash and shares, a car and left her a property worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“I felt sick because I knew this was her doing,” recalls Helen. “The first thing that came to my mind was that he was financially groomed… she had one motive – to get money.”
“Only when the will was read did I realise how skewed it was.”
Helen believes the will had “huge input” from Anita.
Anita George said she was simply receiving gifts from a friend – but this is not just a story about money and material goods. On Ian’s medical records she had listed herself as his next of kin, even as his daughter and adoptive daughter. All this without his wife or children’s knowledge.
She was managing his hospital appointments, taking his bloods at home, accessing medical equipment. How did Helen feel about a woman she barely knew passing herself off as her father’s daughter?
“It’s devastating. It should never have happened. That’s a massive failing by the NHS.”
It has taken eight years for the family of Ian Percival to achieve any form of justice.
Ian and Margaret
Struck off as a nurse
In December 2024, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) carried out a hearing into the allegations – and found that Anita George had breached professional standards and abused the position of trust as a registered nurse to gain inheritance from a patient.
It ruled that her actions were motivated by the pursuit of financial gain, and it struck her off from the nursing register – its toughest sanction. The NMC report outlines how Ian and Margaret’s isolation, poor health and geographical separation from their children made them particularly vulnerable.
Anita George declined our request for an interview.
During the hearing her legal team argued this all happened outside of her formal employment as a nurse. The situation was unlikely to happen again as her personal life has changed and she’s now married, they added.
Swansea Bay University Health Board, which runs the hospital, is now carrying out a review into any possible failures:
“In light of the findings of the NMC’s hearing we are appalled and want to state clearly to the family that we’re very sorry about what happened. We will be reviewing this case to see if there are any learnings that need to be taken into account. It is important, however, to clarify that the inappropriate financial relationships did not relate to care provided within an NHS context.”
Helen with her father, Ian
South Wales Police carried out an investigation at the time but no charges were brought.
It says it will reopen the case if new lines of inquiry are found.
Financial exploitation of the elderly
The case of Anita George and Ian Percival highlights the growing issue of financial exploitation of the elderly. The Hourglass charity, which works exclusively in this field, says the problem is now at “epidemic” levels.
The number of calls it has received since 2017 has risen by 182% from around 4,500 to 12,700.
In just 14% of economic abuse cases in the last three years, £53m has been reported stolen from the elderly.
It says awareness among the public of what constitutes economic abuse is “shockingly low” – with a poll last year finding more than 26% of people did not believe forcing an older relative to change their will was an act of abuse.
The charity says abuse of the elderly comes in many forms including financial, psychological and physical.
“There are lots of cases we’ve dealt with where the enormity of the abuse is only obvious once the person has passed away,” says Richard Robinson, the charity’s chief executive.
“But there is another issue here; lots of older people don’t want to criminalise their family or their carers because if they [do so] they’ll be left to fend for themselves or they’ll be put into a home.”
While Ian’s children hope police will reopen the case, they also want tougher rules on how carers become involved with patients. Currently, nurses must adhere to the NMC’s professional standards known as the Code, which include acting with “honesty and integrity” in any financial dealings.
“We want legislation put in place so that carers can’t be caring without proper background checks, the next of kin cannot just be somebody they’ve known for two years.”
Helen and her father, Ian
‘Someone finally listened’
Richard added that they were “relieved” Anita George was struck off following the damning report by the NMC.
“Somebody listened to us and took our evidence onboard. You can’t have someone doing what she did – using her position as a nurse…to gain their trust.”
While the pair cherish their memories of their father what happened with Anita George has tarnished the end of his life, for them.
Neither of his parents deserved to suffer this type of abuse, says Richard.
“Dad was a genuine hard-working guy who loved his family. It’s just horrible,” he says, grimly.
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Among families struggling to make ends meet, there’s an uneasy sense that the people who can least afford it are being forced to bear the brunt of the nation’s financial woes.
As the impact statement of the government’s welfare cuts was released – revealing tens of thousands of children will be tipped into poverty – at a community centre in Wolverhampton, families shared their frustration that sick and disabled people will be those who lose out.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announced a ‘spring statement’ on Wednesday. Pic: PA
“It’s for people that need extra help because they’re ill, so why would they target that? I’m confused,” said Melissa.
A former carer, she’s currently pregnant, and says she’d love to go back to work and hasn’t been able to since her older children were born – due to the cost of childcare.
Melissa believes the government’s aim of encouraging more people into work is “a good thing, it’s what they need”. But she questions where the jobs are for people who’ve been out of work and may struggle due to illness.
Melissa says she is ‘confused’ by the welfare cuts
“It’s okay saying they’re making cuts, but how are they going to help get people back in work by making them cuts?” she asks.
Philippa agrees. “It’s always a certain section of the community that gets targeted and it’s always those are on low incomes,” she says.
Now a grandmother, but still a few years away from retirement, Philippa recently applied for the disability benefit PIP – personal independence payment – due to diabetes and related health problems.
Phillipa says those on low income are always ‘targeted’.
She was rejected but intends to appeal – and says she feels targeted by the government’s cuts.
“My son’s got disability living allowance, which means I can become his carer and that’s the opt out of getting a job”, she says, adding “I’ve never had to look into ways of avoidance”.
The cuts to welfare target the rapidly growing cost to the public purse of sickness and disability benefits.
Up to 50,000 children may be pushed into poverty due to the chancellor’s latest welfare cuts
The bill currently stands at £65bn a year and has ballooned since the pandemic, fuelled by a large increase in claims from young people with mental illness.
The measures are designed to remove some of the disincentives to work within the system.
Currently, people signed off sick can get double the amount job seekers receive in benefits.
However, they risk losing the extra money if they do get a job.
Stephanie Leo
Stephanie Leo is a senior community support worker in Wolverhampton and believes some people are put off looking for work because they worry about losing their benefits.
“If you could still work on certain benefits that would be more impressive,” she says.
Read more here:
Fears over benefit cuts in chancellor’s constituency
Reeves’ spring statement could just be the start – analysis
Spring statement 2025 key takeaways
Winston Lindsay, 57, struggles to walk due to a range of conditions, including spondylosis that affects his spine.
He used to be a social worker but now runs a voluntary organisation in Wolverhampton supporting people with disabilities.
He uses his PIP payments to cover the basics, but says he already struggles to get by, and worries that if his benefits are reduced, it will have a “major impact” that will force him to restrict how much food he buys, and how often he puts the heating on at home.
“We’re going have to wrap up and wear more clothes”, he says. “I’m just glad it’s summer at the moment – with the winter that’s going to be the worst period.”
The government’s aim is that more people currently in receipt of benefits go out and seek work.
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation, told Sky News that it may happen.
“These measures will mean that they will face an increasing need to engage with employment support services.
“The problem here is whether they’ll be able to be connected to the appropriate kinds of work”, he says.
He believes the risk is that people “get pushed into inappropriate kinds of employment”.
“That in the end, makes their condition worse, and it makes their long-term employment prospects worse as well”, he adds.
UK
‘I don’t know how we will survive’ – fears over benefit cuts and cost of living in chancellor’s Leeds constituency
As Rachel Reeves made her spring statement, opposition to the spending cuts was being spelt out on the ground in her constituency, literally.
The voters of Leeds West and Pudsey sent the chancellor to Westminster with a majority of 12,000 last summer, support she perhaps can no longer take for granted after rewriting spending plans to meet self-imposed rules she can never have intended to break.
In appropriately seasonal sunshine, disability campaigners gathered in the shadow of gold and silver cladding of the city’s John Lewis.
Politics latest: Reeves vows to ‘never’ again deliver budget like last one
On the pavement, one wrote in chalk, “Welfare not warfare”, expressing the disbelief some have at benefits being cut as defence spending goes up.
The chancellor’s cuts are a little more short term than that, a means of balancing the books that may have satisfied the OBR but left campaigners furious.
The cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are particularly unpopular. The government’s narrative is that cutting these benefits will help push people back to work.
Campaigners like Flick Williams, a wheelchair user, point out PIP is unrelated to employment.
She thinks she will lose at least £100 a week under new assessment rules, with devastating implications.
“I don’t know how we will survive, I absolutely have no idea because I don’t have any luxuries as it is,” she says.
“The whole point of personal independence payment is to fund the additional costs you have for being a disabled person,” adds Ms Williams.
“So, for example, disability equipment like my power chair, it’s extremely expensive. I have a bigger electricity bill because I have to charge my wheelchairs. I have a bath lift which also needs charging, and this equipment wears out.
“The government’s got a funny idea about what incentivises people because, honestly, nobody was ever motivated to go to work or increase their productivity by being pushed into penury.”
‘Everyone hit by cost-of-living crisis’
Welfare recipients are at the sharp end of the spending cuts, but they are not the only ones squeezed by the cost of living.
At the Pudsey Community Project, they see the impact of in-work financial stress, too.
Based in a community hall serving 20,000 households across two wards, they have been operating for five years and have seldom been busier.
The project offers a food bank and food pantry, a contributory scheme where people pay for subsidised goods, along with youth activities, lunch clubs for the elderly and lonely, and a busy clothes exchange.
Children insist on growing, even if the economy does not.
Mr Dimery says the community project is supporting many people who are in work
Director Richard Dimery says demand is steadily growing and senses that need has become entrenched, with the impact of the pandemic compounded by the cost of living.
“I don’t know anybody who’s not been affected by the cost of living crisis,” he says.
“We’ve all become a lot more used to things not necessarily getting a lot better. There haven’t been any quantum leaps of significant improvement, just ongoing costs, a lot of them above inflation.
“One of the reasons our pantry, our food bank, our children’s clothes are all six days a week are because we know a lot of the people we’re supporting are in work, either part-time or full-time.”
Economic growth would solve a lot of the chancellor’s problems, never mind the country’s.
For that, companies like WDS Components need to thrive.
Read more:
Spring statement 2025 key takeaways
Money blog: Are you better or worse off after statement?
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What Reeves said in under two minutes
Employing 50 people with an annual turnover of around £10m a year, it manufactures myriad parts used in production lines and finished goods.
They stock more than 40,000 lines, from handles and hinges to hydraulics, casters and clamps, in what marketing director Mark Moody calls “an engineers’ candy store”.
Like every other employer, it faces rising costs from higher employment taxes that kick in next week.
It’s the latest in a long line of challenges that has made growth and expansion a tougher proposition.
“Considering we’ve had a pandemic, we’ve had Brexit, global supply chain issues, the Suez Canal and a few wars, we’re doing okay. We’re holding our own with good, modest organic growth, and we’re trying to stay positive,” he says.
“As we try to manage our business, if we’re constantly mitigating increases in costs and the pressures around us, then we’re not as focused on driving the business in really exciting, innovative ways.”
Police say a newborn baby found dead outside a church in west London was discovered in a black M&S bag.
Metropolitan Police said officers and the ambulance service were called to the end of Talbot Road, in Notting Hill, at 12.46pm on Tuesday.
The baby boy, who was found outside All Saints’ Church, was declared dead at the scene.
All Saints’ Church in Notting Hill.
Pic: PA
Superintendent Owen Renowden described the case as “shocking and tragic” as he gave an update on Wednesday morning.
He said they were “really worried” about the mother’s wellbeing “as she will have recently given birth”.
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Mr Renowden said: “I know she will likely be feeling very frightened and going through an extremely difficult time.
“If you are the baby’s mother and you see this today, I want to appeal directly to you to come forward and receive help, my priority is to help you, to make sure that you can receive medical assistance.”
He added she can get assistance anytime by attending any hospital, police station or by calling emergency services.
He also appealed to anyone who may have information to come forward.
They can call 101 or make an online report quoting reference 1879 and today’s (26/3) date.
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