A daughter travelled 10,000 miles from Australia to confront the carer who stole £100,000 of jewellery from her paralysed mother. Tracy Mellor, 62, made the journey from Sydney to Leigh to face David White, 35, who admitted stealing from her mother, Elaine Macgregor.
White, a trusted live-in carer, took the 82-year-old's engagement ring and heirlooms passed down through generations. During his trial, it was said he did so despite being treated like a son by Elaine, a former headteacher at Tyldesley Central School. White was jailed for four years after admitting theft by employee. Elaine, who lived in Leigh, died in December 2025 before the case was resolved.
Court confrontation
Facing him at Bolton Crown Court, Tracy said: "I can stand here, look you in the face and tell you what your betrayal did to my mum. And Mum, I kept my promise."
Elaine suffered from corticobasal degeneration, a rare disease that damages brain cells and can severely affect movement and speech. Due to her condition, she was left quadriplegic and dependent on carers. The court heard that White exploited her disability and her family's trust to steal 62 pieces of jewellery.
Speaking after the sentencing, Tracy said: "David took full advantage of our trust - and pawned my inheritance."
Trust and betrayal
According to Tracy, who moved to Sydney in 2008, her mum was fiercely independent, with a passion for biking and dinner parties. She said: "Mum was a force to be reckoned with, she was someone who grasped life with both hands."
Arriving through a care agency as a live-in carer, White initially restored Elaine's social life with outings and holidays. Tracy said he took her mum "all sorts of places and she was always excited". When the agency dismissed him for "not following rules", the family employed him privately. Tracy explained: "It's a weird feeling when you have a live-in carer, it's like they're a part of your family. I live in Australia, so he was my eyes and ears - I'd speak to him every day."
White and Elaine drew up a bucket list of destinations, visiting Scotland and a Titanic exhibition. On one occasion, he invited Elaine's friends round, hung fairy lights and served snacks in black tie. Tracy said: "She was ecstatic because he made her feel like a real person again. He used his personality and character to get us to trust him."
Discovery of the theft
In March 2023, when White accompanied Elaine to Sydney, Elaine repeatedly asked about her solitaire engagement ring, which she could no longer wear. White assured both her and Tracy that it was safely locked away in England. Tracy said: "He kept saying it's in the safe. My mum was physically very disabled but, mentally, she was all there. He tried to make it look like mum was losing her mind. She could only whisper, but she kept saying 'ring, ring'. She absolutely loved that ring."
In her victim impact statement, Tracy stated: "Mum could not go home, open the safe and check for herself. She had no choice but to take his word for it."
Once they returned to England, Tracy asked another carer to check the safe, beginning the discovery of the thefts. This left Elaine "absolutely distraught", with her telling Tracy that White, of Ridgeway House, Commercial Way, London, had begun shouting at her and she was frightened of him.
In a statement from May 2023, read to the court, Elaine told PC Alfie Kay: "I feel distraught that someone I trusted has stolen from me. I am especially upset about the stolen jewellery as this was gifted to me by my late husband. I trusted David White; he saw me at my most vulnerable as I relied on him in every aspect of my life. We treated David as family, he has betrayed me and ruined my ability to trust others."
Having promised Elaine on her deathbed that she would confront White, Tracy did just that. She is now writing a book called 'David White Cares' and hopes her experience will help other families. She said: "It's very difficult to know if a carer is being honest. Sometimes, there's nothing you can do. The guilt and shame is terrible. In the end, we found a lovely carer who stayed until mum died, so there are some brilliant people out there. But how can you differentiate?"
