A court has been told how a Doncaster woman has stolen thousands of pounds from her disabled mum’s account to fund her online bingo addiction. Alison Scott has been disowned by her family, after stealing £7,595 from her 70 year old mother in just a few months and then blaming the discrepancies on identity theft.

The family were shocked when they received a letter from the bank warning that the mother was £800 over her overdraft limit. Alison’s brother, Michael Crane, who investigated the claims with the bank soon uncovered that the source deception was not someone unknown to the family. He added their mother, Linda Crane, was ‘devastated’ by the breach of trust and neither of them has spoken to his sister since the stealing.

Mrs Crane, a retired hospital clerical worker, has cerebral ataxia, a severe lack of coordination of muscle movements. She agreed her 51-year-old daughter should help manage her financial affairs through online banking.

Doncaster Crown Court decided after hearing how the accused had taken advantage of the position stealing £7,595 from Mrs Crane, that she should receive a suspended jail sentence. Michael added in an interview with The Star: “Mum wouldn’t want her to get locked up but I did. She shouldn’t have done it.

“As soon as she heard what Alison had done my mother stopped speaking to her and we haven’t spoken to her since.

“At first mum thought a complete stranger had got to her bank account, when I found about £6,500 missing, but then the police made enquiries and told us it had gone to Alison’s account.

“My mum was devastated. We found out just before Christmas and we didn’t spend any of that with her. Mum was devastated.

“She hasn’t paid any of the money back and I don’t suppose she will. I’m not so sure that she has got a gambling addiction - that might be something she claimed when she was found out.”

While Scott, pleaded guilty to the theft when she appeared in the dock, she had originally denied any wrong doing when she was first arrested. She later admitted to the thefts claiming that a great deal of the money had gone on online bingo playing with a tabloid newspaper.

She has reportedly attended Gamblers’ Anonymous meetings to deal with her addiction.

The judge, Recorder Henry Prosser, claimed that it was close decision on whether to send Scott to prison with immediate effect but decided to suspend the sentence.

“You don’t need me to tell you how despicable these offences were. On a large number of occasions you pilfered from your mother’s account when she trusted you. When a mother can’t trust her own daughter it’s a poor lookout.”

She was sentenced to eight months which is suspended for two years. She must also complete 150 hours of unpaid community work and attend 21 remedial sessions at Doncaster Women’s Centre.