A support worker has been jailed for stealing more than £6,000 from a pensioner she was supposed to be looking after.

In her role as a nurse practitioner, Elaine Lowery, 50, was given the task of providing care to a woman suffering from paranoia.

On two dates in October last year, Lowery went with the woman as she withdrew a total of £16,000 from her bank account.

Lowery said she would use the money to furnish the pensioner's new home and set up a funeral plan for her.

She spent some of the cash legitimately, but was later found to have pocketed £6,242 during a period in which she splashed out on foreign holidays.

Lowery, later sacked from her job, admitted to two theft charges and was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today.

Recorder Abigail Hudson heard that Lowery, of Gable Road, Whitehaven, did not have the means to make any repayment and so jailed her for 12 months.

Recorder Hudson said: "It is a tragedy in the circumstances that the victim is unlikely to ever see that money again."