A RESIDENTIAL care worker has been jailed for six months for fleecing a mentally-ill pensioner out of £5,500 life savings.

Mother-of-five Lesley Roshier conned 77-year-old Victor Heath into withdrawing the maximum daily limit of £100 from his post office account on 55 occasions to pay her bills and bank charges.

She admitted 19 offences of theft and was also ordered to pay back Mr Heath's money.

Southampton Crown Court Judge Ian Pearson told Roshier: "You are a hard-working lady who has suffered from severe personal problems but you repeatedly stole money from a vulnerable man who relied on you to look after him. There was a gross breach of trust."

Roshier, 40, of Bond Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton, swindled Mr Heath, a resident at the Scotter Road Project, Bishopstoke, during her time as a care worker there.

David Reid, prosecuting, said: "He had thought the world of her and she of him.

"Mr Heath has had long-term mental health problems and has led an institutionalised existence for the last 42 years.

"The defendant had responsibility for his welfare at the home, but over a four-month period 55 withdrawals were made from one of his two post office savings accounts, averaging one withdrawal every two days.

"She told him his money needed to be below a certain level to qualify for state benefits, which she later admitted was a lie."

He said staff at Bishopstoke post office recalled seeing Roshier with Mr Heath on numerous occasions, getting him to take £100 from his account.

"Mr Heath was in no condition to make any kind of complaint about the withdrawals, neither could he remember anything about his savings," said Mr Reid.

Mr Heath's savings book was found to be missing when she resigned.

When Roshier was arrested she told police that she was relieved they had caught up with her, Mr Reid said.

Alexi Durran, defending, said Roshier had suffered a terrible background, including being subjected to violence by her first husband.

"She was prescribed anti-depressants which had enormous side effects and contributed towards the commission of the offences.

"Mr Heath was a fatherly or grandfatherly figure for her. She felt strongly for him and has cashed in insurance policies to pay him back."

A spokeswoman for Stoneham Housing Association, which runs the care home, said after the case: "This person abused a position of trust. As soon as we discovered what had happened we acted very quickly to inform the police and reviewed our procedures to try to ensure such an abuse cannot take place again.''

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.