A greedy home help who fleeced a vulnerable Huddersfield pensioner out of his savings has been jailed for four years.

Theresa Frost managed to get at least £57,000 after befriending Trevor Walshaw who trusted her with his account details but would have got more if a bank had not become suspicious about attempts to get £112,000 from the sale of his home.

The pensioner, now 81, even made Frost the sole beneficiary of his will which Judge Tom Bayliss QC told her “was an act of kindness demonstrating the trust he had in you.”

But that had the effect, he said, of Frost just treating Mr Walshaw’s money as her own. “Of course it wasn’t. He had the right to change his will, but you believed you were going to get his money and you simply couldn’t wait. You wanted it now.”

“His money presented you with a lifestyle you and your family simply couldn’t afford, cars, foreign holidays and other luxuries and rewards you got for yourself.”

He said when it looked as though the pensioner was going to end up in care in 2012 she had planned for the sale of both their properties and the purchase of another house in Huddersfield where he could live with them.

But Judge Bayliss told Frost: “I don’t dispute you expected him to come and live with you, how long that arrangement would have lasted given your responsibilities and family circumstances is open to question. But I am sure the reason you wanted him to live with you was to get your hands on his money by then all the rest of had gone.”

He said Frost had shown no remorse and described her as “self-absorbed, manipulative and controlling.”

Mr Walshaw had told police he felt “a bit of a mug” for being taken in by her.

The reality is, he was taken for a ride. He didn’t agree to what happened and he did not realise it was happening, no one did until your last attempt to transfer the last remaining assets, the proceeds of the sale of his home, alerted the bank and the authorities.”

Frost, 44, of Stanley Road, Lindley, was found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court last month on 12 charges of fraud involving a total of £192,000. She appeared at York Crown Court for sentence.

Her husband Paul, 53, who was found guilty on one joint charge of fraud by using £14,317 of Mr Walshaw’s money to pay off two of his loans, was jailed for four months.

Judge Bayliss told the couple: “Those who act in the way you two did and exploit the vulnerable and are motivated by greed as I am satisfied you are, will receive jail sentences.”

The jury heard Mr Frost was elderly and in poor health when Frost first became his home help in 2009 while working for an agency.

Later that year she gave up that job but continued to work for Mr Walshaw over the next three years.

But Matthew Bean prosecuting told the jury she abused his friendship out of greed using his money for her own purchases and it was estimated she had received £57,094 during the three years and tried to obtain more.

“In 2012 she persuaded Mr Walshaw to sell his home. The suggestion was she and Paul Frost would also sell their home and they would together buy a house with the proceeds of the sale of the two house and they all would live together.”

He told the jury that included the Frost’s five children. Mr Walshaw’s home in Burniston Drive, Huddersfield was sold Frost then tried to transfer £112,000 from the proceeds of the sale from Mr Walshaw’s bank account.

The couple denied any dishonesty to the police and claimed they had been given money by the pensioner as gifts or loans and that Mr Frost’s loans had been paid off to enable him to get the mortgage quicker so they could all move in together.

Mr Walshaw said in his video evidence in chief shown to the jury he felt “very bitter” about what had happened. He said he trusted her, “she would write cheques for me which I would sign”.

Frost told the jury in evidence she would never have taken any money without his approval including his paying for a holiday.

Theresa Frost said Trevor Walshaw “was like a dad” to her. “We were very close, really good friends.”

Under cross-examination by Mr Bean she denied dishonesty and said she had always asked Mr Walshaw before spending anything.

“He was always saying you might as well have my money because it is going to be yours at the end of the day. He said he didn’t want the Government seeing how much money he had in his accounts.”

“I wouldn’t take an old persons money I am not that sort of person. All I wanted to do was help Trevor.”

Katherine Robinson representing Frost told Judge Bayliss she had affection for the pensioner and “there was a genuine caring relationship between them.”

Yunus Valli representing Paul Frost said the money was available to pay back Mr Walshaw for paying off the loans which he had always intended to repay.