A heartless mother-of-four stole more than £21,500 from her frail grandmother and used part of the money to fund her online gambling addiction, a court has heard.

Charlotte Kidd, 30, had access to the elderly woman’s bank account as she had been trusted to handle payments for care home fees and other purchases. However, Hull Crown Court heard that she “blew the money” on online gambling, paying bills, paying rent and buying children’s school uniform.

The woman admitted an offence of stealing £21,512 between September 18, 2020 and November 4, 2022. Hannah Turner, prosecuting, said that Kidd’s grandmother in a care home at the time and she was housebound because of ill-health.

She was told by the care home that it had not received any payments for her care during the time that she was there, even though Kidd should have been paying weekly contributions, as the family had decided when the woman went into the home. The court heard Kidd was her grandmother’s registered carer and as such, she was given her debit card and security number, having full access to the money for any payments or purchases that needed to be made.

“She was not given permission to access the account and spend the funds on herself,” said Miss Turner. After the matter came to light, requests were made to the bank for statements covering the period that Kidd had access to the bank card.

It was discovered that many unauthorised payments went out of the account, including £11,000 for gambling, including on Tombola and Monopoly, between July 2021 and August 2022, as well as cash withdrawals and payments for gas and electricity and to Matalan. There were payments listed as for rent, bills and “kids uniform”, Hull Live reported. Kidd made no comment to questions during police interview. She had no previous convictions but she had a caution for shoplifting in 2010.

The grandmother later said: “This situation is causing great stress, which I should not have to deal with at this time of my life. I am dwelling on it constantly, which has caused my health to deteriorate further. I can’t believe a family member would do this to me. It’s hurt me deeply.”

David Godfrey, mitigating, said that the offence was a breach of trust and Kidd had “sailed very close to the sun” and put her family in a difficult position. She had four children, aged 11, eight, six and one. Judge Alexander Menary said that the theft was committed over a significant period of time and Kidd had not shown “any great or overt remorse”. He added Kidd “frittered” the money away on gambling and other things for the benefit of herself and not her grandmother.

She “blew the money” instead of using it to pay the care home fees. “Your grandmother suffered significant emotional distress,” said Judge Menary. “She had very little else to think about apart from where her money had gone. You are now estranged from your family, perhaps understandably so. This was a breach of a high degree of trust and responsibility.”

Kidd was given a 20-month suspended prison sentence and 150 hours’ unpaid work. She was ordered to pay £2,500 compensation. Judge Menary warned her that she faced being jailed if she breached the suspended sentence – and she would go out through a different door next time. “If you swing the lead at all – straight through the back door,” the judge added.