A carer “cynically” emptied the bank account of a 93-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s, a judge said.

Mandy Murphy, aged 52, of Trem y Mor, Rhosneigr, was jailed for 16 months after admitting that she burgled the home of the victim after she’d gone into hospital, taking her bank card and defrauding her of £9,210 from a Post Office account.

Caernarfon crown court heard that the cash had been repaid by Murphy, a grandmother and mother of four, who claimed to have “a shopping addiction”.

She had been in a team of carers who tended to the bedridden Winifred Egerton of Benllech.

Judge Timothy Petts said Murphy had caused “untold stress and anxiety” to Mrs Egerton’s daughter, who discovered the fraud in February last year.

The daughter had described what happened as “cruel and wicked.”

Richard Edwards, defending, said Murphy understood the moral outrage and was remorseful and ashamed. She had been in debt and suffered from anxiety and depression.

Judge Petts told Murphy that according to a pre-sentence report she was motivated by greed “stealing twice as much as you need to pay off your debt to buy presents and carpets.”

He added : “Sustained offending of this nature, a breach of trust towards vulnerable clients, needs to be punished by immediate custody.”