Callous care home boss Thelma Hitchiner betrayed the trust of the people she was supposed to be looking after by stealing their money.

She even guided the hand of one blind resident to sign what he thought were small withdrawals.

But a court heard how the sums Hitchiner was writing out were for around £250 each time.

Hitchiner, 54, wept in the dock at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday as a judge told her she was a "thoroughly dishonest, callous and greedy woman."

She was jailed for a total of two years.

Hitchiner, who may only have five years to live, had denied but was convicted on four charges of theft totalling nearly £16,000 from residents at the former Green Gables home in Carnarvon Road, Clacton, over a nine-year period.

"It is difficult to imagine a more despicable series of offences than those you embarked on which were aimed at fleecing the elderly," Judge Gareth Hawkesworth told Hitchiner.

And he added: "You treated them like children by depriving them of their just entitlements and so depriving them of their dignity."

Hitchiner had no qualifications for the job and at the time she had financial problems with a number of county court judgements against her, the court heard.

She began stealing from residents and Judge Hawkesworth said the worst offence involved the "cynical and callous manipulation" of blind resident Cyril Stephens who lost £3,000.

"It was particulary callous to guide his hand in signing withdrawl slips by which you dishonestly enriched yourself. He thought they were small sums but they were of the order of £250 at a time," the judge said.

During her trial, the court heard how she set up a joint Halifax account after persuading wheelchair-bound Henry Clements, 92, to cash in a £10,000 National Savings bond.

She stole £8,130 for herself including £4,000 for the deposit on a 520 Series BMW and £1,000 for a Citroen.

Mr Clements said he never authorised the account and did not know why he stopped receiving his monthly £50 from the bond.

Fred Smith, 91, and 78-year-old Vera Green were supposed to receive £14 a week each from social services but Hitchiner signed their pension books and only gave them £8 each. Mr Smith lost £3,570 and Mrs Green £1,662.

And the proceeds from a house sale paid into the bank account of George Richards, 86, who has since died, were also raided by Hitchiner. She helped herself to £2,700, the court was told.

Lindsay Cox, mitigating, said: "She should never have been the manager at the home. She was unqualified for the job and never received any proper training. Regretfully, she found herself in a position of responsibilty which she was ill-equipped for."

He also said she was in poor health suffering from a severe respiratory disease and may have five years to live. She has been told to stop smoking but has not.

"The offences started at a time when she had financial problems and county court judgements against her," Mr Cox added.

These now totalled some £12,000 the court heard.

Behind bars - former care home boss Thelma Hitchiner.

My special Christmas card wish for Hitchiner

A victim of Thelma Hitchiner's greed, Vera Green, is to send a Christmas card to her in jail.

She said: "I'm going to find out which jail she is in and going to send her a Christmas card asking: 'How are you settling in?'"

Mrs Green remembered when Hitchiner asked if her dying husband was coming out of hospital - because there were people waiting for his room.

Mrs Green, 77, said: "While he was dying she said: 'Will George be coming out of hospital,' and I said: 'You know he isn't.'"

She said Hitchiner then told Mrs Green she had other residents interested in his room.

Mrs Green, a resident at Sea Breeze, formerly Green Gables, said residents were given only a biscuit or a sweet if they got a full-house at bingo.

She said she first suspected Hitchiner when she was given her pension. She was only given £8 of her £14 pension.

Mrs Green said: "During the afternoon Mrs Hitchiner called me in and said: 'You have got another £5 to come'.

"But she turned round and said: 'I don't want to hear any more about the money.' She never used to like me because I used to answer her back."

Sentence should have been harder

Cyril Stephens, 76, who had money taken by Hitchiner, said the sentence should have been longer.

He said she should have been given ten years' imprisonment. Mr Stephens said he found out about the thefts after Hitchiner was sacked.

He said: "She went just like that and we didn't know what it was all about at first, but we soon found out."

Former St Osyth Priory worker Fred Smith, 90, was also affected by the thefts. He said he only received about half of his pension of £14.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.