A niece who "cynically exploited" her widowed 101-year-old aunt by stealing all her money has been jailed for three and a half years.

Jean Kelly, 62, played the devoted carer of North Yorkshire villager Laura Judge, following the death of her husband, but instead plundered her bank account.

She had been asked by Mrs Judge's husband to care for her after his death, but she visited only her once a week and sometimes less frequently. She systematically emptied her bank and savings accounts until the widow, now 101, was left unable to pay essential bills with county court judgements against her, York Crown Court heard.

She also withheld birthday and Christmas cards sent by other family members and failed to take her for hospital appointments, leading to her being blacklisted by the NHS.

The prosecution cannot establish how much she stole but it was at least £34,000 and may have been £40,000.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said: "It was what I regard as a gross and cynical exploitation of a vulnerable widow".

In a victim personal statement read out to the court, Mrs Judge, a poppy seller, described how Kelly reduced her to a state where she was frightened and intimidated in her own home, which, by the time Kelly's crime were discovered, had a malfunctioning toilet, a faulty radiator, a kettle that splashed boiling water when used, very little food and dog hair and excrement from Kelly's dogs lying about the house.

"I asked for help through my nightly prayers," she said. "She was not my carer. I was at the point where I was desperate and didn't know where to turn for help. I had not received any birthday or Christmas cards for years and years."

All her life, she said, she and her husband of 70 years, Ernest Judge, had been hard-working and financially independent, never in debt, but now she had to rely on others for funds to pay essential bills such as heating and hot water.

"I feel I shouldn't have be having this stress at my time of life," she said. "It is unfair. It was and is an abuse of trust."

She later said she was frustrated she had ever trusted Kelly.

In her house in North Yorkshire, she said: "I worked in the finance department for Boots for years so I know what I'm doing with money.

"I was absolutely staggered when I looked at my bank statement. It had gone down dramatically."

The judge said Kelly had been stealing and defrauding from friends, colleagues and employers for 30 years, forging invoices and other documents to cover her traces.

"Between 2008 and 2014, you stooped even lower by stealing from your aunt," the judge told her.

He said the sentence had to reflect public revulsion at her actions.

Mrs Judge was a "dignified" woman whom Kelly, of Falmouth Avenue, Normanton, had made give evidence because she had denied a charge of theft.

She had only allowed Kelly to assist her because her husband had wanted it.

Tom Gent, for Kelly, said that she had said goodbye to her sister, who is dying of cancer and for whom she was a carer. Because of her age, a prison sentence will be particularly hard.

The judge arranged for Mrs Judge to watch the sentencing hearing through a video link to Wakefield Magistrates Court, her nearest court.

But hours before it was due to start, she was taken ill and could not make the journey from her home to the courthouse. She sent a message asking for the hearing to go ahead in her absence.

Kelly's deception emerged after Jean and Alma Hunt went to visit their aunt for her 100th birthday.

Alma Hunt said: "We hadn't been to see Auntie Laura for a while because our own mother was really unwell.

"We just assumed that she was being looked after by Jean Kelly.

"When we all came to visit her just before her 100th birthday, she was frail and upset and said she thought we had abandoned her. Jean Kelly had even took Auntie Laura's three-piece suite.

"It was absolutely devastating. We'll never forget that day."

Alma Hunt, who's father Harry Hunt was Mrs Judge's brother, said: "She had stopped all the carers coming and there were dozens of cards from family members and hospital appointment letters that had just been left unopened.

"Auntie Laura had been blacklisted from the hospital because she'd missed so many appointments.

"We've had to set everything up again. We've even got a picture of Jean Kelly on a book for the carers so they know not to let her in."

Jean Hunt said Mrs Judge was now getting back to her normal self.

She said: "She's much better now. Remembering what we walked in on a year ago - it was devastating.

"We don't like to think about it.

"But she's got so many more years in her yet. She's back to being fighting fit.

"Most of all, she would just like her three-piece suite back."

 

Mrs Judge's statement

In her statement read to York Crown Court, poppy seller Mrs Judge said: "I want this statement to be read out in court.

"I want Jean Kelly to know how she left me afraid in my own home.

"I am much stronger than I was because of my other nieces who have since helped me.

"She almost destroyed me, they have restored me."

The statement continued: "Until 2007 I lived with my husband Ernest. We were together for 70 years and I miss him dearly.

"We had savings and I had a small pension - we have never relied on anybody for financial support and I have never been in debt in my life. Now I have bills I cannot pay and I will die in debt."

Mrs Judge continued: "Since Earnest died I have been lonely and could not predict when Jean Kelly would visit. For the last few years I feared her calling.

"She has had a negative impact on my life and left me feeling vulnerable, anxious and with very little dignity.

"I knew she was stealing from me. I challenged her and she would become difficult, telling me I was wrong."

Mrs Judge said she had not received any birthday or Christmas cards, that she had no money in her purse to pay the window cleaner and there was not much food in the house.

Mrs Judge described her dignity as at rock bottom.

She said: "I am hurt and very angry that someone could do this in my husband's memory. I shouldn't be having this type of stress at my time of life.

"It is unfair and it was an abuse of trust."