Karen Lofthouse, 66, was made a deputy for Dorothy North’s financial affairs by the Court of Protection, and was in charge of paying the elderly woman’s care home fees.

Instead Lofthouse, a grandmother of L’Espec Street, Northallerton, drained her aunt’s bank account and spent the money for her own benefit on home improvements, clearing debts, paying her council tax and on university fees and accommodation for her sons.

Lofthouse eventually resigned her deputyship after concerns were raised about her spending, but then withdrew a further £2,000 from now-deceased Mrs North’s account.

She was jailed for two years and three months at York Crown Court today after pleading guilty to fraud and theft offences committed between 2018 and 2021.

As part of her role, Lofthouse was expected to submit regular financial reports, but when her transactions were queried by the Office of the Public Guardian in 2019, she told them that she had given ‘loans’ to her sons to pay their rent and clear debts. Other cheques had been paid to a builder and an electrician.

She was warned that though gifts to family members could be taken into account when dealing with a person’s estate, the spending pattern could be against her aunt’s interests and in breach of her position. Lofthouse responded that Mrs North would have agreed to the payments if she had capacity to do so.

Lofthouse was told she could make an application for retrospective approval of the spending, and though she did apply in 2019 for the ‘gifts’ to be authorised, she did not respond when asked for further information and the request was not granted.

In 2020, she was further reminded of her obligations to submit reports, and by this time it was found she had spent a further £24,000 for her own benefit. In October of that year, she requested that her deputyship be revoked, and there was no further contact between her and the Office.

A solicitor appointed as Mrs North’s deputy in 2021 requested that £10,000 be returned, but Lofthouse only offered £50 per week, which was too low.

In March 2022, further concerns were raised after £2,000 was withdrawn from Mrs North’s bank account, which by this point did not contain enough money to cover her care – meaning North Yorkshire Council had to pay the £33,000 fees until her death.

Analysis of the account revealed payments to debt recovery services, a window company for guttering work, credit cards, Amazon, Simply Be, Lofthouse’s daughter and food companies.

Lofthouse’s defence counsel said the ‘long married’ grandmother had an ‘excellent work record’ but was out of her depth in the role of deputy. She added: “She thought she was acting for the better good. She was out of her depth from the start, and in her own finances too. She was never properly equipped. She didn’t know how to make the reports. She does concede that it looks as if her aunt was a cash cow. She will have to live with this and it weighs heavy.”

Sentencing, Judge Sean Morris said: “You were expected to protect the interests of your senile aunt. Instead you fleeced her remorselessly. You spent the money on yourself and your children. It went up and up and up.

"You decided to take yourself off the record, and I have no doubt your motivation was your hope that it would all go away. But you couldn’t help it. After this, you stole from her again. It was a monstrous breach of trust.

"If people who are given such a high degree of trust flout it, they must go to prison, no matter what their age. It will deter others.”

Yorkshire grandmother, 66, jailed for 'remorselessly fleecing' her elderly aunt out of £72,000 which she spent on home improvements and clearing her debts