A CARER who stole more than �5,000 from a pensioner with dementia was jailed for 18 months today at Cambridge Crown Court.

Sarah Kigotho, 37, who is known to have as many as eight aliases, took advantage of 84-year-old Mary Hoy while living with her in her Melbourn home as a live-in carer.

Kigotho, who was born in Kenya, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud and three counts of theft at Cambridge Magistrates Court late last year, and asked for a further 13 counts of theft and fraud to be taken into consideration when being sentenced.

On 28 separate occasions from May to July last year Kigotho either paid cheques to herself from Mrs Hoy’s account, withdrew money from a cash machine, or purchased items from catalogues, to the value of �5,016.

The crime was only detected when Mrs Hoy’s son, James, who has power of attorney for his mother because of her dementia, spotted irregularities in her bank statements.

Sara Walker, for the prosecution, said Kigotho was in the same room when Mr Hoy told his mother he thought money was being stolen from her account.

At that point, Kigotho left the house and did not return.

Edmund Blackman, for the defence, said Kigotho was under pressure to send money back to family in Kenya.

But sentencing, Judge Anthony Bate called Kigotho “manipulative and predatory”. He continued: “I have no doubt this offence was under-pinned by greed.”

He also expressed concern she had been able to cheat a Criminal Records Bureau check with a false name to gain work. “The public mood will be understandably concerned how somebody with prior antecedents can bypass these checks,” he said.

Kigotho, who suffers from schizophrenia, will serve the 18-months at the same time as a one-year sentence she is currently serving handed out by a London court for getting a job with a false passport.

She was sentenced Cambridge Crown Court after being told her crime was too serious to be dealt with at Cambridge Magistrates Court.