Rising Incidence of Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation: The Story of Anita George and Ian Percival
The recent and tragic case of elder abuse involving Anita George (“Anita”) and Ian Percival (“Ian”) remind the public, yet again, that stronger safeguards must be implemented amongst institutions to protect the elderly population from abuse.[1]
Ian was married to Margaret Percival for over 52 years. Together, they become well known and liked amongst their community in South Whales. Ian was a successful businessman, and assisted the staff at the National Health Services (“NHS”) find rental homes in their area given his history in property investment.
During one of Ian’s regular dog walks, he ran into Anita, a woman he had not previously known at the time. Ian found Anita crying over her personal life, and she had stated she was a nurse at the local hospital. Within three days of meeting Ian, Anita moved into one of Ian’s properties and began to care for Margaret, who at the time was dealing with mobility issues.
Within a short period of time, Anita inserted herself amongst Ian and Margaret, isolating the couple from their children, Richard and Helen (the “Percival Children”). The Percival Children lived in Australia, and away from their parents, thus an opportunity existed for Anita to seclude Ian and Marget with greater ease. As time went on, Anita began to target solely Ian, in an effort to financially manipulate him. This was not discovered until after Ian’s death, when evidence was uncovered on Ian’s laptop by the Percival Children.
The Percival Children learned that Anita had listed herself under various aliases for many of Ian’s medical documents/appointments, including as Ian’s next of kin, as his daughter and adoptive daughter. Anita also infiltrated his life to such a degree that she was taking his blood at home among other medical routines.
The Percival Children discovered that upon Ian’s death, he had included Anita in his Will. Anita was left with a car, and a property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Percival Children are under the belief that Ian’s Will was largely influenced by Anita.
As a result of the abuse and financial exploitation of their father, the Percival children sought justice for Ian. In December of 2024, eight years later since they began their case, Anita was struck off from the NHS nursing register, as she breached her “professional standards, and abused the position of trust as a registered nurse to gain inheritance from a patient”. During the hearing held at The Nursing and Midwifery Counsel (“NCM”), counsel for Anita asserted that such inappropriate behaviour occurred outside of her employment contract, and such behaviour would not likely happen again. This defence did not convince the NMC to permit Anita to retain her nursing license.
The NMC also found that Anita’s motivation was driven by the “pursuit” of financial gain. Although Anita was provided with the harshest sanction according to the NMC, she has not been criminally charged.
The Swansea Bay University Health Board announced it is, “now carrying out a review into any possible failures” that could have facilitated Anita’s abuse.
Elder abuse and financial exploitation have grown at unprecedented rates in recent years. The Hourglass Charity in England and Wales, which deals exclusively with elder abuse, has reported 182% rise in calls 4,500 to 12,700 since 2017. In addition, a total of £53 million dollars was reported stolen from elderly people. The Hourglass Charity revealed the following:
“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 Hourglass Charity also stated that many elderly people don’t want to confront the issue of abuse or criminalise their abusers as they fear they will be left to care for themselves or be admitted to a nursing home.
The Percival Children hope that there will be legislative change to ensure that caretakers can only assist individuals with detailed background checks. Additionally, the Percival Children demand that institutions will not allow an individual to be named as a next of kin if it has not been longer than two years since they’ve known the vulnerable individual.
Although Ian was vulnerable due to his old age and need for care, he was a sophisticated individual that fell prey to financial exploitation. This story highlights the ease at which predators such as Anita can target elderly people for their own personal gain. As a society, we must come together to protect the elderly demographic from such abuse.
—
[1] Dan Whitehead and Rebecca Spencer, “She changed everything’: Cancer nurse struck off after ‘financially grooming’ patient” (Sky News, 2024), online: < https://news.sky.com/story/she-took-over-their-lives-cancer-nurse-struck-off-after-abusing-position-to-gain-inheritance-13302996 >
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Written by: Gabriella Banhara
Posted on: March 26, 2025
Categories: Commentary
The recent and tragic case of elder abuse involving Anita George (“Anita”) and Ian Percival (“Ian”) remind the public, yet again, that stronger safeguards must be implemented amongst institutions to protect the elderly population from abuse.[1]
Ian was married to Margaret Percival for over 52 years. Together, they become well known and liked amongst their community in South Whales. Ian was a successful businessman, and assisted the staff at the National Health Services (“NHS”) find rental homes in their area given his history in property investment.
During one of Ian’s regular dog walks, he ran into Anita, a woman he had not previously known at the time. Ian found Anita crying over her personal life, and she had stated she was a nurse at the local hospital. Within three days of meeting Ian, Anita moved into one of Ian’s properties and began to care for Margaret, who at the time was dealing with mobility issues.
Within a short period of time, Anita inserted herself amongst Ian and Margaret, isolating the couple from their children, Richard and Helen (the “Percival Children”). The Percival Children lived in Australia, and away from their parents, thus an opportunity existed for Anita to seclude Ian and Marget with greater ease. As time went on, Anita began to target solely Ian, in an effort to financially manipulate him. This was not discovered until after Ian’s death, when evidence was uncovered on Ian’s laptop by the Percival Children.
The Percival Children learned that Anita had listed herself under various aliases for many of Ian’s medical documents/appointments, including as Ian’s next of kin, as his daughter and adoptive daughter. Anita also infiltrated his life to such a degree that she was taking his blood at home among other medical routines.
The Percival Children discovered that upon Ian’s death, he had included Anita in his Will. Anita was left with a car, and a property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Percival Children are under the belief that Ian’s Will was largely influenced by Anita.
As a result of the abuse and financial exploitation of their father, the Percival children sought justice for Ian. In December of 2024, eight years later since they began their case, Anita was struck off from the NHS nursing register, as she breached her “professional standards, and abused the position of trust as a registered nurse to gain inheritance from a patient”. During the hearing held at The Nursing and Midwifery Counsel (“NCM”), counsel for Anita asserted that such inappropriate behaviour occurred outside of her employment contract, and such behaviour would not likely happen again. This defence did not convince the NMC to permit Anita to retain her nursing license.
The NMC also found that Anita’s motivation was driven by the “pursuit” of financial gain. Although Anita was provided with the harshest sanction according to the NMC, she has not been criminally charged.
The Swansea Bay University Health Board announced it is, “now carrying out a review into any possible failures” that could have facilitated Anita’s abuse.
Elder abuse and financial exploitation have grown at unprecedented rates in recent years. The Hourglass Charity in England and Wales, which deals exclusively with elder abuse, has reported 182% rise in calls 4,500 to 12,700 since 2017. In addition, a total of £53 million dollars was reported stolen from elderly people. The Hourglass Charity revealed the following:
“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 Hourglass Charity also stated that many elderly people don’t want to confront the issue of abuse or criminalise their abusers as they fear they will be left to care for themselves or be admitted to a nursing home.
The Percival Children hope that there will be legislative change to ensure that caretakers can only assist individuals with detailed background checks. Additionally, the Percival Children demand that institutions will not allow an individual to be named as a next of kin if it has not been longer than two years since they’ve known the vulnerable individual.
Although Ian was vulnerable due to his old age and need for care, he was a sophisticated individual that fell prey to financial exploitation. This story highlights the ease at which predators such as Anita can target elderly people for their own personal gain. As a society, we must come together to protect the elderly demographic from such abuse.
—
[1] Dan Whitehead and Rebecca Spencer, “She changed everything’: Cancer nurse struck off after ‘financially grooming’ patient” (Sky News, 2024), online: < https://news.sky.com/story/she-took-over-their-lives-cancer-nurse-struck-off-after-abusing-position-to-gain-inheritance-13302996 >
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