A mother of three has been jailed after using at least £78,000 of her elderly grandmother’s money to pay off arrears on a dishonestly obtained mortgage.

Kerry Ann Noble was handed a two-year jail term by a judge, who condemned her for “a grave and gross breach of trust”.

Recorder David Osborne said Noble had taken advantage of her grandmother’s age and frailty.

Leeds Crown Court heard she got a mortgage for her home in Royd Street, Huddersfield, in 2005 after lying about her income and that of her husband Robert.

Ian Brook prosecuting said she claimed in the mortgage application to be earning around £35,000 a year while she stated her husband, who worked for Kirklees Council and was involved with the Territorial Army, earning around £41,000.

She also signed that she started a nursing and midwifery business called Doula Birth about a year earlier for which she had a 100% shareholding.

The mortgage application was successful and £154,589 was advanced but Mr Brook said looking at the statements it appeared the account went immediately into default.

“The defendant simply did not have the necessary income to service the mortgage,” he said.

The direct debit due on November 1, 2005 was unpaid and the December payment was also missed resulting in a litigation fee of £100 added to the account.

Further monthly payments were missed until a lump sum of £8,548.53 was made in May 2006 by debit card.

He told the court a similar pattern followed with monthly payments missed followed by sporadic lump sum payments. By November 3, 2010 the balance was £147,843 and by March this year it was £159, 587 which was more than the original mortgage.

Tax records showed Noble’s income for 2004 to 2005 was £319. She commenced self-employment on April 1, 2005 until 1 June 2008 trading under the business name Simply Spotless and as of April 2012 no self-assessment tax returns had been filed for the tax years 2005-2011 and no employment was recorded for her on their PAYE database for the years 2005-2012.

Her husband’s gross pay including his work and TA earnings were also “far short” of the mortgage declaration which she claimed responsibility for.

Mr Brook said as of March 2012 there had been 15 eviction notices served but each time they were cancelled when an agreement was reached for Kerry Noble to pay a lump sum clearing arrears.

But he said it turned out the payments “came in great part from her grandmother’s bank account.”

Mrs Christine Stevens had at some point moved in with Noble, paying her £400 rent per month. However between November 2006 and November 2011 inquiries revealed Noble took £144,000 from her grandmother’s account.

Of that Noble accepted £78,000 was unauthorised when she claimed to have her grandmother’s consent to make transfers from the account. The bank had subsequently repaid the money to the executors of her grandmother’s will so they were the losers.

Richard Dewsbery, representing Noble, said: “She is extremely fearful of losing her liberty as much for the effect on her family as on her.”

He said the figures on the mortgage application were “aspirational” and her business proved a drain on finances instead of improving her situation.

She initially took money from her grandmother’s account with her permission and then with the hope of repaying later sums, but accepted it became dishonest when she had no hope of doing so.

The property at Royd Street had now been repossessed. She was extremely remorseful and had recently been diagnosed as suffering from bi-polar disorder which might have contributed to some of her behaviour.

A woman of positive good character, she had been involved in charity work and co-ordinated the Park Run in Greenhead Park.

Noble, 40 of Victoria Court, Longwood, Huddersfield, admitted obtaining a money transfer by deception in relation to the mortgage and fraud. Her husband Robert, 50 denied the first offence and was found not guilty after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.

Jailing Noble, Recorder David Osborne said there had to be an immediate jail term.

While he accepted her remorse was genuine she got the mortgage on a false basis and the fraud offence against her grandmother, who was in her 80s, was a “grave and gross breach of trust.”

“You took advantage of her advanced age and frailty to take the money you did.”