A CARLISLE woman who worked with accomplices to steal from a vulnerable pensioner was “disgusted with herself,” a court heard.

The comment came from the defence barrister representing 47-year-old Kelly Bowman, who was part of a trio of women who callously targeted a housebound 88-year-old Carlisle man, stealing from him. 

The pensioner trusted Bowman and her friends, Rachel Dixon, 32,  and Lisa Nunn, 44, when they offered to shop for him, persuading him to hand over his bank card.

Instead of helping him, they stole hundreds of pounds.

Along with her co-defendants, Bowman admitted four thefts, and attempted theft, and associated fraud offences linked to the use of the victim’s bank card.

The offending took place over a few days in March.

An earlier hearing was told that Dixon and Nunn first won the pensioner’s trust by chatting to him and then offering to help him with shopping.

The victim was a frail and vulnerable 88-year-old widower, who walks with the aid of a Zimmer frame, the court heard

The offending got underway on October 5 last year, when Dixon and Nunn went to his home and knocked on the door. Nunn told the pensioner she was the sister of a woman who worked with his late wife.

The man invited them in.

Within a short time, they asked for money, but he refused. He did, however, accept their offer to shop for him at the local Co-op store, for which purpose he handed over his bank card and provided his PIN number.

They later returned with the goods and the bank card.

But the two women returned to the man’s house on March 18, this time with Kelly Bowman and he was persuaded a second time to let them do his shopping, again handing over his bank card.

The women never returned with the bank card. Instead, they used it to withdraw several hundred pounds from the man’s account.

Ellen Wright, for Bowman, said the defendant wished to apologise for her offending. Quoting the defendant, the barrister said: “She has said today that she is frankly disgusted with herself, with the way she’s behaved.

“She is completely and utterly ashamed.”

Miss Wright said the background to Bowman’s offending was the death of her daughter 18 months ago, which had caused her to turn to alcohol to deal with how she was feeling.

The barrister said that the defendant was not incapable of rehabilitation.

READ MORE: Housebound Carlisle pensioner targeted by women's 'mean' fraud

Referring to the excessive drinking of Bowman, who could not be sentenced last week because she arrived at court drunk, Miss Wright said: “She’s frankly of the view that her remand into custody may well have saved her life.”

Bowman, of Central Avenue, Harraby, was so drunk when she arrived at court that the security staff took her to hospital. After a week in jail, Bowman now felt much better and wanted to tackle her issue with alcohol.

Judge Michael Fanning told the defendant he accepted her role in the theft and fraud was less than that of her co-defendants and he noted the death of her daughter and how this turned her to drink.

“But this was a vulnerable old man,” said the judge, noting how the victim had lost his trust in people. “These offences are too easily committed against vulnerable and easily exploited elderly people.

“They deserve protection.

“People like you have to know that if you exploit the likes of [the victim] you will get immediate punishment.”

He jailed Bowman for 27 weeks and imposed a five year restraining order which forbids any contact with the victim.

Nor can the defendant go to his home in Carlisle.