A CARER and her boyfriend who attempted to defraud an elderly couple out of more than £50,000 have been sentenced to community service.

Hannah Foster, 26, a carer, and her boyfriend Carl Bates, 22, stole £11,250 from the couple Miss Foster cared for by stealing signed blank cheques from them.

Miss Foster, who lives with Mr Bates in Scarborough Road, Malton, was one of a number of carers employed by Derwent Carers to look after for the wheelchair-bound couple, aged 92 and 94, at their remote farm just outside Malton.

York Crown Court was told on Monday that Miss Foster and Mr Bates also tried to steal £40,000 by setting up internet banking on the couple’s bank account, using paperwork found in the house.

However, the two transfers of £20,000 out of an ISA account, and £20,000 out of a savings account, were stopped by the bank’s fraud department.

Rob Galley, prosecuting, explained that the alarm was first raised when a care officer from the local authority visited the elderly couple on September 16, and discovered that their wallet and various cards appeared to have gone missing.

The elderly couple’s son and two daughters, who have power of attorney on their parents’ bank accounts, were notified.

The son checked his parents’ accounts, and found that a cheque for £3,000 had been drawn on September 9, and another for £8,250 on September 10.

The Scarborough branch of Lloyds TSB checked their records and found that Mr Bates and Miss Foster had paid the cheques straight into their own accounts. Miss Foster was also caught on CCTV cashing a cheque.

Michael Sandiford, defending, said that Miss Foster had little experience as a carer and no training and that she was left completely unsupervised. He said that Mr Bates wasn’t aware quite how old the elderly couple were, and asked the judge to take the defendant’s youth into account.

He said: “The £8,250 and £3,000 taken initially were paid back when the defendants realised the police were aware of the matter.”

Recorder Ewan Judd said to Mr Bates and Miss Foster: “The fact of your good character, your guilty pleas, and your paying back of the money allows me to suspend your sentence because of mitigating factors.”

The pair were sentenced to 51 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and were ordered to pay £200 court costs each, and to carry out 250 hours each of community service.