A YOUNG mother who was addicted to gambling stole thousand of pounds from an elderly man, a court heard yesterday.

Amy Edwards, 23, tricked the 82-year-old pensioner into revealing his cash card PIN number and she obtained £5,600 to pay off her debts.

The man's son found that there had been 34 unauthorised transactions over a year, and he tracked them to Edwards, of St John's Hostel, Portrack, Stockton, who had been his father's friend for ten years.

Jonnie Walker, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, said Edwards went voluntarily to Stockton police station and she apologised and offered to repay the money.

Chris Baker, in mitigation for Edwards, said that it was an unpleasant offence and a breach of trust on a vulnerable person. After her confession to police she had to wait six months before she was told that she would be prosecuted. He said that Edwards was disabled and she had suffered bullying at school so she should have been aware of the effect of such cruel actions.

She fell into debt because of her gambling addiction which risked her home, and she also became addicted to painkillers and Ampthetamine.

Judge Leslie Spittle said to Edwards: "It seems to me it was a deliberate course of conduct by the means that you deliberately obtained his PIN number and you were able to draw £5,600 from his bank account unbeknown to him, and it was only through the intervention of a relative that it became known.

"I take the view that it has to be marked by a sentence of imprisonment."

Edwards was given a 15-month jail sentence which was suspended for two years with a supervision order. She was also ordered to pay £1,040 compensation at £10 a week after she pleaded guilty to the theft between August 2002 and August last year.