A JOBLESS mother who stole more than £200,000 from an elderly relative with dementia to fund her lavish lifestyle has been jailed for three and a half years.

Krista Marie Pennington, of Derbyshire Avenue, Stretford, embarked on a luxury spending spree after she was handed control of a sick and vulnerable family member’s finances in 2011.

The 52-year-old had been made deputy to the elderly woman’s estate after she was moved to a nursing home to be nearer to her family.

Pennington had been working at the Trafford Centre at the time but was sacked soon afterwards and left unemployed.

Her son approached a jobless Pennington for a loan of £20,000 and, while she had initially intended to pay it back, this first break into the account sparked a spiral of misuse of the victim’s funds.

Pennington made cash withdrawals, paid debts, gave generous gifts, bought cars and bought camping equipment for holidays, all with the victim’s money.

In total Pennington used £209,391.24.

Pennington was found guilty of fraud by abuse of position at Minshull Street Crown court and sentenced to three and a half years behind bars on Thursday April 14.

Detective Constable Neil Tate said: “This was a shameless abuse of trust on a vulnerable elderly woman who suffers from dementia.

“The victim was moved to the area to be closer to her family as her health deteriorated, only for Pennington to use her money to fund her own lifestyle.

“She used the money to buy cars, go on holidays and make shop purchases of tens of thousands of pounds with only a small percentage going to the victim.

“She even took jewellery from her home and sold it to a pawnbrokers.

“It is shocking that someone would treat a vulnerable family member in this way by taking enormous sums of money for their own gain, and Pennington is fully deserving of the jail sentence she received.”