A TRUSTED carer who abused her position to steal about £16,500 from a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim with learning difficulties has today been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Maureen Blackwell, formerly of Bramble Drive, Dursley, but now of Tewkesbury, was told by a judge that she had been 'cavalier, cold and calculating' in her offences against 64-year-old Margaret Russell.

At her trial at Gloucester Crown Court last month Blackwell had denied 13 charges of defrauding Miss Russell, who lives in sheltered accommodation in Tewkesbury.

But the jury convicted her of all but one of the charges and she was sentenced to 30 months jail by Recorder Stephen Hall QC, who said it was 'an extremely serious breach of trust.'

He said her crimes had not only hit her victim but had also put carer colleagues under suspicion until her guilt was established.

Prosecutor Rosie Walsh told the court Blackwell worked for the care agency Nursing Alliance and helped to look after Ms Russell at Marina Court, a sheltered housing complex run by the Hanover Housing Association in Tewkesbury.

Blackwell was one of a number of carers who worked 24 hours, seven days a week at the victim's home and in time she became her main carer.

Ms Walsh said illicit withdrawals from Ms Russell's account always took place on days when Blackwell was working - and some were made at a Tesco cash machine in Cam, close to Blackwell's then home.

The 13 charges alleged that between April 14, 2010 and February 21, 2011 Blackwell defrauded Ms Russell of amounts ranging from £150 to £4,000 at a time.

Blackwell, who was of previous good character, had always denied any wrongdoing.

She told the jury she was not responsible for the many large withdrawals from Ms Russell's account and she had always correcctly booked down everything she did with the account on behalf of Ms Russell.

Her solicitor Jason Coulter told the court today there was little he could say in her favour because it was difficult to imagine a more serious breach of trust.

"It is a terrible crime, I am not going to pretend otherwise," he said.

"There is nothing I can realistically say to mitigate it. I simply cannot think of anything which is, I hope, unusual for me."

Jailing Blackwell, Recorder Hall said it was an aggravating feature that she had cast suspicion on her colleagues and also that Ms Russell had lost £16,500 which she was unlikely ever to recover.