A callous Fleetwood conwoman cruelly duped a pensioner who was suffering from memory loss and confusion.



Paula McIntyre distracted the 79-year-old man by hiding his back door key and then stole some of his savings.
She was described as targeting and cruelly abusing the generosity and kindness of a vulnerable elderly man by District Judge, Jeff Brailsford, sitting at Blackpool Magistrates' Court.
McIntyre, a mother-of-two, aged 41, of Chatsworth Avenue, Fleetwood, pleaded guilty to theft and failing to attend court.
She was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months with up to 20 days rehabilitation to be supervised by the probation service, put on six months drug rehabilitation and ordered to pay the pensioner £200 compensation with £85 victims' surcharge.
District Judge, Jeff Brailsford, said: "This was extremely serious. There has to be a message sent out that those who target the vulnerable to steal from, cheat and con them, that this will not be tolerated."
Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said on October 27 McIntyre and another woman knocked on the door of a 79-year-old man's Fleetwood home. He did not know McIntyre but let her in and she asked if he lived alone.
McIntyre returned the next day and after he reluctantly let her in she asked him for a couple of pounds. He gave her £5 from a drawer he kept money in. She then asked to use the toilet and when she returned she asked him where his back door key was.
The pensioner, who suffered from memory loss, confusion and depression, found the key missing from the back door. McIntyre then suggested it might be under a rug in the toilet. After asking her to leave he found £50 missing from the drawer.
Probation officer, Brian Weatherington, told the judge that in the months leading up to the offence McIntyre had relapsed into taking heroin again and her benefits had been reduced. The victim was know for helping people in need.
Patrick Nelligan, defending, said McIntyre now had her drug problem under control. She was genuinely ashamed of what she had done.