The allegations against 39 year-old Sharon Foster were dismissed by the Health Professions Council (HPC) at the end of a two day disciplinary hearing in London.

The council took the view that the accusations levelled against Ms Foster had not been proved by the HPC.

Chair of the hearing, Clare Reggiori, in dismissing the case, said: "In the unusual circumstances of this case, the HPC has not been able to discharge the burden of proof."

Ms Foster had denied allegations that, after Mr Kirby nominated her as an authorised signatory and cardholder of his credit card account so that she could obtain goods for him, she had used his credit card to purchase goods which were not for his benefit, welfare, or estate.

Ms Foster had originally worked for Maurice Kirby, a former acting chief executive with Newark & Sherwood District Council, as a cleaner and gardener.

However, when she qualified as a chiropodist she then continued working for him, tending his feet and had even been on holiday with him to Tunisia and Sorrento.

She had told the hearing that she had helped him increasingly with matters such as his finances when his sight had begun to fail and described herself as a "companion."

However, it was alleged that paperwork, including his will, credit card statements and cheque books were found to be missing when his granddaughter visited him in his Southwell home.

The hearing was told that Ms Foster claimed that Mr Kirby had agreed to pay for items including jewellery, clothes, pictures, hair highlights - estimated at a total of about £10,000-worth - during 2005.

Mr Kirby's eyesight was said to have deteriorated from late 1990's and he became registered blind in 2002. Ms Foster said that as a result of his failing eye sight she had organised his credit card purchases, and guided his hand to the required space for signatures.
AGITATED

However, when his granddaughter Katie Olsen of Bonnington, visited him a week before his death, knowing he was terminally ill, he was said to have become "agitated" at the expenditure she read from the credit card statement, and to have commented: "I don't think Sharon would rob me."

Ms Olsen is said to have searched in wardrobes for boxes containing money and paperwork, including his will and cheque books, but to have found nothing.

Mr Kirby's daughter, Caroline Kirby, of Southwell, told the hearing her father died on February 7, 2006, and had left Ms Foster £500 for every year she had worked for him - £7,000.

She said that Ms Foster had been paid £11 an hour to include her petrol costs.

John Harding for the HPC told the hearing: "This case arose out of a relationship with an elderly gentleman.

"She was interviewed under caution by police and she will say she had his permission to use his credit card for gifts for herself and to set against her wages."

Giving evidence Ms Foster, formerly of Sutton-on -Trent, said she started working for Mr Kirby when she was 21 when she was running a cleaning business and she went on to carry out various jobs for him.

She said that by 1999 she was "spending more time with him," getting to know him better, becoming his companion, and accompanying him on holiday with him providing the cost of the trips and some spending money.

She said her day to day work involved "accompanying him out for lunches, a bit of gardening, and going to his late wife's grave."

She said that, as his eyesight deteriorated, she began getting involved in his finances and continued: "He thought it would be helpful for me to have a credit card as back up and then he decided he wanted to enjoy what he could and authorised payments, also putting 'tips' for me in a box in a wardrobe in his house.

"I was very fond of him in an open, honest way - he always seemed lonely. He saw me as a young woman making my way - with ups and downs - through life."

She said he had been sad for her when she was divorced in 2004.
She told the hearing that police had investigated the allegations against her and the investigation had resulted in "no case to answer."

She said she had paid off a final credit card bill of £1,100 on her solicitor's advice.