A FORMER care worker whose life was ruined by drink was spared jail yesterday for a "mean, despicable" theft from an 83-year-old woman.

The judge told Darren Foster, 23, that he could also have wrecked the woman's trust in others who offered to help her.

The woman walked with a stick and Foster's lawyer said that he was riddled by drink when he met her in a Darlington street and asked if she needed help with her shopping.

When they reached her house, Foster rifled through her purse which held £90, taking £30, said Dan Cordey, prosecuting.

Foster, who said that three weeks ago he attempted to commit suicide, asked for his genuine apology to be conveyed to her, said Jonnie Walker, mitigating.

Mr Walker told Teesside Crown Court: "He has for a number of years led a pathetic, hopeless life, drinking to excess and has reduced himself to where he is seeking counselling and standing before the crown court for yet another drink-induced offence.

"His health has suffered to the extent where medics dealing with his case express concern about the state of his liver and kidneys.

"On 18 occasions, he has produced sick notes to say why he was not able to comply with a community order."

Judge Les Spittle told Foster: "This was a very mean offence.

"This was a vulnerable lady and you took advantage of her frailty in order to sneak-thieve from her and take the money from her purse.

"I accept that you met wholly by chance and initially you were acting in a sensitive way and as a Good Samaritan assisting her home with her shopping and into her house, but then on your own you succumbed to temptation, and it was upsetting for her."

At the time, Foster was breaching a 12-month community order imposed last September for another theft.

The judge added: "It was upsetting for her and it was destroying to her belief in other people."

A probation officer's pre-sentence report on Foster said that he was at a crossroads where a push in the right direction might do him some good.

Foster, of Dinsdale Crescent, Darlington, was given a supervised ten-month jail, suspended for two years and was ordered to enrol on an Address Substance-related Offending programme.

He was ordered to pay £30 compensation after he pleaded guilty to the June 19 theft.

The judge told him: "You have been given the opportunity to prove that you are more than a mean, despicable thief, and if you comply with these requirements, you will be trouble-free and the public will be free of you.