A thieving carer from Kirklees who stole an 87-year-old dementia-sufferer’s £20,000 savings has failed in a bid to get her ‘stern’ jail term slashed.

Gillian Kennedy, 36, of Little Green Lane, Heckmondwike, was employed as a carer for Margaret Senior, Mr Justice Jay told London’s Appeal Court.

The pensioner suffered from deteriorating dementia and had £17,000 in cash hidden on top of her wardrobe.

She also left her pension money hidden in various places around the house, the judge said.

Four months after she took on Kennedy, Mrs Senior had to be moved into a residential home.

It was then that it was discovered the £17,000 was missing.

Kennedy had transferred £19,000 into bank accounts and spent £1,400 on a sofa and £10,000 of the money ended up in the bank account of her partner Patrick Sean Hodge, 46, also of Little Green Lane.

Hodge, who was in the Royal Navy for eight years before being medically discharged, used the cash to reduce his mortgage.

Kennedy was convicted after a trial of theft and transferring criminal property. She was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Leeds Crown Court on April 25.

Leeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

The judge who jailed her described her as a “thoroughly dishonest woman willing to run a series of ridiculous defences.”

Hodge got nine months after being convicted of converting criminal property.

Challenging her sentence today, Kennedy’s lawyers admitted it was a ‘mean’ crime, but argued it was ‘not sophisticated’ .

They pointed to her previous good character and mental health difficulties including depression, low mood and symptoms of anxiety disorder.

Hodge’s lawyers also argued his jail term was too harsh. They pointed to his previous good character, Royal Navy service and his caring role for two small children.

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But Mr Justice Jay said it was a ‘serious case’ involving a ‘vulnerable victim’.

Kennedy’s sentence was “undoubtedly stern but was not in our view manifestly excessive”, said the judge, who was sitting with Lady Justice Sharp and Judge Neil Ford QC.

He said the court had thought long and hard about Hodge’s severe sentence.

But he concluded that it was not ‘manifestly excessive’ and dismissed both appeals.