LOLITA Reid exploited the early onset dementia of a 91-year-old widow under her care to plunder her pension and savings of £77,000 and fund her own alcohol and gambling habits.

The former care worker was providing a home package to the vulnerable Swindon pensioner with twice-daily visits between 2009 and 2012 and was entrusted with her debit cards and pin numbers.

Her victim, a former teacher whose dementia was spurred on by anxiety during the three years, realised money was missing by July 2010, but Reid convinced her she was imagining things.

Reid, 45, who attempted to take her own life two weeks ago, is beginning a sentence of two years and nine months for three counts of fraud.

Swindon Crown Court was told today that Reid turned to drink after her brother and the father of her child were both murdered in her native South Africa.

Rob Welling, prosecuting, told the court: “Her victim had the capacity to make decisions about her finances but needed support because she suffered short-term memory loss. It is apparent Ms Reid readily recognised and understood the shortcomings and exploited it.

"From the outset and over the course of two to three years the defendant plundered three of her bank accounts, doing so in a variety of ways.”

The court heard Ms Reid would take smaller sums via debit cards and electronic transfers, with larger sums being withdrawn at ATM machines, using the victim’s pin number.

“It was clear there was a pattern of a long-term series of thefts, and on all occasions it was the defendant who was booked to see the victim on the days that money went missing,” added Mr Welling.

“In interview she demonstrated she was remorseful and attributed her actions to alcohol and gambling addictions. Clearly there was an abuse of a position of trust, and it must have been her expectation that she was unlikely to be caught because of the victim’s gathering dementia.”

A victim personal statement, written by a senior social worker on the victim’s behalf, was read to the court.

“She realised in July 2010 her bank did not contain the money that should have been there,” it said.

“She was reassured she was imagining it. She did not pursue the matter any further because her confidence was undermined, and she felt powerless and ignorant when her finances seemed beyond comprehension. She accepted it must have been her own fault somehow.

“She felt frightened she would not be able to pay her bills, and that anxiety exacerbated her dementia. She imagined men had come to her bungalow and stolen money.

“The last person she would have expected was a carer who she relied on and trusted.”

Tony Bignall, defending Reid, said: “She came here from South Africa with great expectations. It is apparent there have been some tragedies in her life because of a hard upbringing. She comes from fairly violent circumstances.

“By the early part of this century she was drinking heavily, and it wasn’t very long before her first suicide attempt.

“That is no excuse for what happened. When you are in the grip of addiction, the first thing that goes is empathy. She thinks now it is terrible and wishes she could put it right.”

Judge Peter Blair QC said: “Your actions have been very severe on this lady, whose life savings and benefits from her and her former husband were frittered away by you.

“She was a vulnerable woman, now suffering from dementia so she can’t express to me the effect it has had on her.

Reid, of East Street, Winterbourne Kingston, was sentenced to two years and nine months for the bulk of the money stolen, with additional sentences of 24 months and 12 months to run concurrently.

The judge said: “You were in a position of trust and you took advantage of that over quite a considerable period of time.”