An online gambling addict left her 91-year-old grandmother penniless after tricking her out of £140,000.

Brenda Lowe, 46, agreed to act for frail Vera Frankish when she decided to sell her house and move into a care home after being burgled .
 
But Lowe kept the £142,000 for herself – and spent most of it on her gambling addiction.

She left the frail pensioner so poor she is unable to pay for her care home place.

Mrs Frankish is now £6,500 in arrears at Rosemount Care Home in Edgeley, Stockport. Despite the arrears, her placement is not under threat.

Minshull Street Crown Court heard how Lowe became addicted to internet site Jackpot Joy and gambled away most of the money. She also used the cash to pay for a car and a holiday.

Lowe, of Howden Close, Reddish, Stockport, was jailed for three years after admitting fraud at a previous hearing.

In a statement read out in court Mrs Frankish said: "The money was supposed to look after me, there was nothing left. (She) has taken everything off me I haven’t got a penny for myself."
Kate Hammond, prosecuting, said Lowe spent the money raised by the sale of Mrs Frankish’s home at Torquay Grove, Woodsmoor, Stockport.

She was discovered when her brother, Gary Hopkinson, 41, asked Mrs Frankish for a loan.

She told him Lowe had all her money and when questioned she confessed her crime.

Defending Lowe, Mylena Bennett said she had been a gambling addict for some years and had previously lost her home.
 
She and her husband and children then had to move into rented property.
 
Mrs Bennett said: "She started gambling very heavily. She wanted to recoup some of the money but the more she gambled the more difficult it became to stop."
 
The court heard she had also sold George Michael concert tickets to 24 people on eBay - even though she never had any.
 
Lowe made £8,000 from selling the George Michael tickets for an Earls Court gig that was then cancelled. She did not return the money.

Lowe also admitted theft and received a further eight months imprisonment.

Sentencing, Judge Peter Lakin branded her crimes ‘mean’.

Speaking after the hearing Mr Hopkinson, of Dukinfield, said: "It was a shock she took nanna for every penny. She claimed she idolised her. But as soon as the house was sold there was no more contact.

"She is still my sister but if I never saw her again I wouldn’t be bothered. I am glad of the sentence, it is justice."

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