The Care Home Swindler

The Shocking True Story Behind One of Britain's Biggest Scandals

The gripping inside story of a major British scandal, a man who conned the elderly out of millions of pounds, and an expose of the terrifying reality of what happens to the elderly behind closed doors, from award-winning journalist Kate Snell.

Behind a façade of luxury and respectability, David Barton, owner of the Barton Park Nursing Home in Southport, swindled millions of pounds from the infirm amassing himself a fortune.

Along the way he was assisted by corrupt professionals: solicitors, bookkeepers and senior care home workers who became part of his fraudulent operations - co-conspirators who held positions of authority in the community, and in whom the elderly placed their trust.

With exclusive access to witnesses, court documents, victims' families, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service award-winning filmmaker and journalist Kate Snell goes on the trail of a multi-million pound fraud involving a property empire, luxury cars, false identities, forged documents and lies to unravel this astonishing story.

It also pulls back to look at abuses in the care home system more broadly - what more should be done to protect the most vulnerable in our communities?©2026 Kate Snell