A care manager at sheltered housing callously stole more than £17,000 from an elderly woman suffering from dementia, a court heard.

Donna Hodges, her brother Phillip Hodges and Katy Delaney spent the cash in a shopping spree at various stores in just three weeks.

Hodges, 43, was jailed for 10 months after Judge Charles Macdonald QC said it was a high breach of trust involving a vulnerable victim.

Phillip Hodges, 31, and Delaney, 27, were given eight-month suspended prison sentences. Hodges was also ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work.

Donna Hodges, of Trebble Road, Swanscombe, admitted three fraud charges. Phillip Hodges, of Stanhope Road, Swanscombe, and Delaney, of Burnham Crescent, Dartford, admitted one fraud charge.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Donna Hodges was a weekend manager at the housing in Glen View, Gravesend, where victim Betty Hampton, 79, lived.

Donna East, prosecuting, said because Mrs Hampton suffered from Alzheimer’s it was easier for her to keep all of her money in one account.

But she was concerned when she received a bank statement in June last year and discovered the balance was £17,260 less than it should have been.

She saw that her debit card and the PIN written on a piece of paper was missing from her purse.

The trio were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court

“The bank looked into the matter and noticed there were 91 unauthorised transactions totalling £17,260,” said Miss East.

“There were ATM withdrawals of about £300 a time. The debit card was used for purchases from a range of stores - Argos, Asda, Wilkinson’s and Game Station.

“The first was on May 27 last year and the last on June 16. In view of her distress the home contacted her son, who lives in Portugal.

“He and his wife returned to the UK to assist the police and comfort his mother.”

Miss East said Donna Hodges was identified on CCTV at stores using the debit card. When officers went to her home they found some of the goods bought.

On arrest, it was discovered she had not declared previous convictions dating back some 20 years on her job application for the care home to the Peveral Group.

The prosecutor said Hodges’s half-brother Phillip and Delaney were also identified on CCTV at stores.

Mrs Hampton had been repaid, she added, and the bank was the loser.