A LLANELLI cleaner has been jailed after stealing £1,450 from her vulnerable 73-year-old employer's bank account.

Fifty-year-old Anita Jones, of Tal y Coed, Hendy, admitted to stealing the money between August 15 and September 9 this year.

Llanelli magistrates heard that the victim, Margarita Hughes-Berry, who suffers from chronic arthritis, found withdrawals she could not account for on her bank account.

Dennis Davies, prosecuting, said Mrs Berry could not recall giving details of her pin number, or writing it down, or suffering forced entry to her house.

Separate withdrawals of £250, £200, £100 and three withdrawals of £300 had been made at Tesco Llanelli and the Co-op Llangennech.

It then emerged that Jones had accompanied Mrs Berry to a cashpoint and made a withdrawal.

CCTV cameras were checked by police and Jones was recognised making the withdrawals.

Jones made a full admission to police of her crime.

She said she had been heavily in debt and had made a mental note of Mrs Berry's pin number, taking the card, making the withdrawals, and returning the card afterwards.

The court heard Jones said she intended to repay the debt to Mrs Berry at some point.

Mr Davies said: "It was an act of desperation as she was heavily in debt."

David Elvy, in mitigation, said the defendant had been "of entirely blameless character".

But she had a previous conviction in 1996 for drawing £15,000 on a credit card in someone else's name.

Jones was given a suspended sentence which she successfully completed but there was a compensation order for £15,000, he said.

Despite the sale of property of a family member she was not able to pay the amount and went to prison.

Jones listened to advice to borrow money and it turned out to be a loan shark.

Interest was racking up and she took a job as a cleaner with the elderly relative of a friend.

Jones took the money and "deluded herself" that she would pay it back.

Mr Elvy said "shame lies heavily upon" his client.

She had since taken an overdose.

He said: "Quite clearly she is at risk if she is committed to prison immediately as a result of what she has done."

Llanelli magistrates described the offence as a very serious matter and imposed an 18-week jail sentence because of "the fact there was a vulnerable victim involved, the offences were committed over a period of time, and there was a breach of trust."