Social worker banned for hiding mother’s death from family

A social worker who concealed his mother’s death from relatives for a year so that he could claim her entire estate has been struck off by the General Social Care Council.

Kenneth Mould, who worked at the London borough of Merton, sought his mother’s signature of a will in 2006, which named him as the sole beneficiary. He did this knowing that Evelyn Mould, who had dementia, did not have the mental capacity to understand what she was doing, a GSCC conduct committee was told.

In e-mails to his mother’s brother and sister-in-law after her death in February 2007, he gave the impression that Mrs Mould was still alive. It was when the police became involved 12 months later that most of the relatives heard about her death.

Soon after Evelyn Mould signed the will giving her son sole beneficiary of her estate, an uncle alerted him to the existence of a previous will signed by her in 2002. This named several other members of the family as beneficiaries of her estate.

But Mould failed to tell his solicitors about this, the committee was told.

After his mother died, Mould’s solicitors declared the 2006 will invalid because of his mother’s mental incapacity at the time of signing and declared her intestate.

Mould spent the next year trying to win the right to deal with the estate.

The conduct committee found Mould actions had been “fundamentally dishonest” and removed him from the register.

The committee said: “This was planned, repeated and persistent dishonest conduct that spanned 12 months or more, and not an isolated incident.

“It was a significant breach of trust by the registrant in relation to his elderly, vulnerable mother.”

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