A carer who abused her position to steal from a vulnerable pensioner has been jailed.

Lynsey Johnston, 34 from Gateshead, was employed to look after the OAP but instead betrayed her trust and used her debit cards to pay off her own debt.

Her "disgraceful" spending was uncovered in the summer of 2019 when her patient was hospitalised and her family sought to review her care plans.

They were shocked to discover the irregular payments and immediately contacted police.The Northern Echo:

Johnston, of Waverly Road, was arrested but denied any wrongdoing, claiming she had an agreement with the family to make purchases on the defenceless woman’s cards – which she did not.

She maintained her innocence, but a jury found her guilty of fraud at Newcastle Crown Court.

On Friday, August 4, she was back at the same court, where a judge heard from the family of the victim, who has since passed away.

The victim’s son said: “I will not be able to forgive Lynsey Johnston for what she did, not because of money lost, but the harm done.

“Seeing my mother so upset, saying she was a fool to trust Johnston, was very hard. She was a not a fool, she should have been able to trust her, sadly I could not convince her of that before she passed away.

“I wish I was able to tell my mother that we had gotten some justice.

“Although I will not be able to forgive Johnston, I do hope that the sentence will help me and family members be able to move on.”

After hearing family statements, a judge handed Johnston a 15-month-long jail term and worked to put measures in place to ensure she never works in care again.

Detective Constable Joanne Newton, of Northumbria Police’s Safeguarding team led the investigation, she said: “Protecting the vulnerable is our biggest priority.

“This elderly woman and her family trusted Johnston and she completely abused that position of trust for her own selfish gain and then didn’t even have a slither of integrity left to own up to her own actions – putting the family through a trial, which sadly the victim did not live to see.

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“It is a truly sickening act to take advantage of someone you’ve been trusted to care for and I want to warn those in our communities that seek to take what is not theirs, that your bad deeds will catch up with you and we will do everything in our power to bring you to court and make you answer for your selfish crimes.”

She added: “The majority of the carers in our region are good, honest people who care about the people they work with and would never dream of committing such selfish acts and I want to thank them for their dedication.

“However, I also want to ask families to continue to be vigilant and to always speak out if they suspect their loved one is being taken advantage of. We’re here for you.”