Her mum with Alzheimer's relied on her for everything... it was the ultimate betrayal

A greedy woman stole her elderly mother's life savings as if she were 'taking candy from a baby', a court heard.

Care worker Luana Dougherty had been trusted by her family to look after her mum Margaret Trimmer when she developed symptoms of Alzheimer's. But the 'uncaring' 50-year-old, from Cheshire, stole a total of £216,000 from her 'vulnerable' mother who 'relied on her for everything'.

It emerged Dougherty had spent thousands of pounds of the money on her Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type hounds, on furniture and on setting up a dog breeding business. Her crimes were revealed when she bragged to her son how she was going to put a £60,000 deposit on a house, leading to other relatives making enquiries with Mrs Trimmer's bank.

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Dougherty has now been locked up after a hearing at Chester Crown Court. The court was told how she had already been given a £125,000 share of her mum's fortune from the sale of their £370,000 family home after she offered to look after her.

She exploited both her job and her mother's mental condition to download a banking app onto her mobile phone to access the victim's account upon which she would make illicit withdrawals of £1000s at a time. Over one four-day period, she was transferring £20,000 a day into her own account and in all stole £216,000.

Just £10,000 was left in her mother's account by the time the thefts were discovered. In a statement to police Dougherty's sister Sandra Clayton said Mrs Trimmer, who is in her 80s, was said to be 'anxious and distressed' when told of her daughter's betrayal.

She said: "When mum sold up because she was unable to look after herself we agreed that Luana would