A COUPLE aged 86 and 95 saw their lives ‘destroyed’ by a scheming mother-of-four who befriended them and did odd jobs around the house before fleecing them of around £12,500.

Alice Nutter and Bill Green had lived together at their terraced home in Foulridge for more than 40 years before drug addict Rachel Ryan came into their lives, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Not only did she burgle the elderly couple twice, but she took Miss Nutter’s bank card and used it at her local Cash Generator branch to steal £11,179, the court heard.

Jailing her for 52 months, Judge Simon Newell said: “They have little time left to live, given that they are 86 and 95. But they were content together until they let you into their life and you destroyed it.”

Miss Nutter said she felt ‘scared’ and ‘defeated’ after Ryan was arrested and eventually she moved into respite care. But Mr Green said he wanted to remain in his long-established home.

The court heard that later Mr Green also moved into a separate care home.

In her victim impact statement, Miss Nutter said: “Bill and I have remained separated and we have not spoken since.”

Ryan, formerly of Robinson Street, Foulridge, but latterly of Bankfield Mount, Braithwaite, near Keighley, admitted two offences of burglary and fraud by false representation.

She had also originally denied two further robbery offences, relating to each of the elderly victims. But prosecutors dropped the charges after being informed that neither of the OAPs was well enough to attend a trial.

Kimberley Obrusik prosecuting, said the defendant initially lived next door to the elderly couple in Railway Street, before moving further along the same street. She would regularly pop into the house and carry out odd jobs, like cooking and cleaning.

Often she would ask to use the toilet, but on July 20 last year she asked if she could use a shower to clean her hair. The couple became concerned that she was taking some time and when they went upstairs she passed them, carrying a bag.

Miss Obrusik said: “He (Mr Green) realised that £1,300, that he had been saving as a surprise for Miss Nutter, had been taken from his bedroom.”

The court heard that as part of the couple’s regular routine, Mr Green would place £70 in a pot, for Miss Nutter to pay for household items and groceries.

But on September 12, after he had done this, he noticed a woman, who he did not know, waving at him through the kitchen window. She told him that someone was breaking into his garage.

The garage was a two-minute walk away and while Mr Green shut his front door behind him, he didn’t lock it.

Moments later Rachel Ryan walked into the house, shoving past Miss Nutter, and took the £70 left by Mr Green.

The court was told that Ryan ignored her and walked out.

Miss Obrusik said it was only later, through the Yorkshire Bank, that she learned more than £11,100 had been stolen from her account via a Cash Generator store in Keighley.

An investigation by police discovered that Ryan had made no fewer than 45 transactions, using the card, between April and June last year. Only in September did she learn that her bank would be refunding the cash.

Imran Khan, defending, said: “There is nothing that I can say which will limit the damage caused to the these victims. To that extent your honour will note, in her letter to the court, that she is somewhat disgusted by her own behaviour.”

The court heard that Ryan was enduring a ‘chaotic lifestyle’ after relapsing and returning to drug abuse. Ryan, who already had four children, was due to give birth to a fifth on June 4 the court heard