A heartless carer who pawned precious jewellery she had stolen from elderly people with dementia while working night shifts has been jailed.

Former teacher Sita Tamang wept in the dock at Canterbury Crown Court as she learned her fate while her husband waited anxiously in the corridor outside with their one-year-old son.

At the sentencing hearing on Friday, it was said that Tamang was “petrified at her predicament", but a judge told the 33-year-old that notwithstanding all he had heard and read about her, including her previous good character and genuine remorse, he saw "no reason" to spare her from prison for such an abuse of trust.

He also refused a subsequent request by her lawyer that she be granted immediate bail pending an appeal against the jail term.

The court heard Tamang, the daughter of a former Second World War Gurkha, had been working at Highland House Care Home in Canterbury since 2017 when, in March last year, she targeted her three vulnerable victims.

The women were aged between 80 and 92 years old, with one said to be in the advanced stages of dementia while another had limited brain function due to a stroke.

In her highly trusted role, Tamang not only had responsibility for their personal care but also had access to their rooms and belongings.

Prosecutor Ben Wild said the alarm was first raised on March 3 last year when the 80-year-old's engagement ring - engraved with her husband's name - was reported missing. Her room was searched but it could not be found.

The following day, it was noted that a wedding ring belonging to another resident had also gone missing, before the daughter of the eldest victim reported her mother's wedding ring and necklace with a cross were nowhere to be seen.

Mr Wild said although the jewellery's financial value was low, amounting to no more than £500, their sentimental worth and the emotional impact of them being stolen was high.

"An investigation was undertaken by the home and it was found the defendant was on duty on each of the nights when those items went missing," he told the court.

"A disciplinary meeting was held on March 8 and she admitted she had taken the items and sold them to a pawnbroker in Canterbury."

“The emotional stress was very real both for the losers and their loved ones...”

Although it was not said how much money Tamang had been paid for them, the court was told all the jewellery was recovered.

One of her victims later told police she felt "betrayed" by her carer, who was immediately dismissed by her employer.

Tamang, of Buffs Road, Canterbury, pleaded guilty to four offences of theft and in June was committed by magistrates to the crown court for sentencing.

Her barrister, John FitzGerald, said the "kind and generous" mum had behaved wholly out of character at a time when she was struggling both personally and financially.

The court heard she had pawned not just the jewellery she stole but also her own and her husband's.

"This is a lady who spent her first years teaching children in poverty in Nepal and then, when she came to this country to follow her father who served in the Gurkha regiment in the Second World War, has been a carer for many elderly people before the ones whose trust she abused in this case," said Mr FitzGerald.

"The pre-sentence report has shown her true colours. She has accepted full responsibility, there was no attempt to minimise her offending and she has shown remorse and regret for what she has done.

"At the time the offences were committed she was struggling significantly both emotionally and financially. It was those extreme circumstances that led her to act so out of character.

"She doesn't try to explain and justify - that is just my interpretation. We have a lady who was a teacher, then a carer, who was meek and mild, honest and hard-working, and looked after others.

"To do something so out of character, there must have been something unusual - exceptional - in her life at the time."

Mr FitzGerald urged the court to impose a suspended sentence so that the impact on her family would be limited.

But jailing Tamang for two years, Recorder Matthew McDonagh said she had targeted her victims knowing their dementia reduced the likelihood of being caught.

"Those vulnerable, elderly residents were given personal care by you. It followed that you had access to them, their room and their belongings, and that the access would have been alone," he told her.

"Undoubtedly it was a highly trusted role - the trust from your employer, the residents themselves and their loved ones.

"I don't doubt that the opportunity presented to yourself allowed you to target those vulnerable residents. Their mental vulnerabilities made the chances of detection all the less and that would have been known to you because you are an experienced carer in this role.

"There is little doubt that although of relatively limited financial value, the rings, pendant and necklace stolen would have been of substantial value to the losers regardless of the monetary worth.

"The emotional stress was very real both for the losers and their loved ones. The impact would have been felt by all."

In his sentencing remarks, Recorder McDonagh praised the deputy manager at the home for acting "expeditiously" in tracking down the pawnbroker shop to retrieve the jewellery.