A 60-year-old man turned detective to find a crooked care home worker had been stealing thousands of pounds from residents – including his 95-year-old mother.

When Geoffrey Morton checked bank statements belonging to his elderly mother Winifred, he found she had fallen victim to cheque fraudster Kellie Louise Taylor, 27, then a care worker at the Fairlawn Residential Home in Queens Road, Maidstone.

A detailed police investigation followed and, last month, Taylor, of Illustrious Close, Chatham, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for obtaining property by deception and obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception, after admitting she took a total of £2,710 from two elderly residents.

Mr Morton spotted the deception, which was committed in July and August this year, when he saw unexplained payouts of several hundred pounds showing in bank statements.

Mr Morton, from Snodland, near Rochester, said: “My mother is still distressed about it all. It’s been very upsetting for her. I tell her to forget about it, but she keeps dwelling on it.

“The way the cheque was taken out – the stub was carefully removed to avoid suspicion – it wasn’t until I closely examined the cheque book I discovered what had happened.

“I just couldn’t believe it. It’s been a very disturbing three or four months.”

He added: “She thinks 'I’ve earned the money, why has somebody wanted to take it from me?’

Mrs Morton has been living at Fairlawn for 18 months. Mr Morton said the staff at the care home had been “brilliant”.

“They’ve been let down by this person,” he added. “They feel very upset by it because they have had to be interviewed by the police.

“It’s the way it was done. If this woman had gone to ask my mother for money, she would have thought about giving it to her anyway.”

PC Pat Holmes, from Maidstone and Malling Police, said: “We will deal robustly with people who prey on vulnerable persons.”