A CARER who stole £21,000 from a pensioner with dementia is facing jail.

Bernadette Launder, 40, was supposed to be looking after 82-year-old Mildred Rigby when she used 22 cheques to steal the money from her vulnerable victim, Burnley Magistrates’ Court heard.

Launder, of West Street, Burnley, had walked into the town’s police station of her own accord last October and owned up to taking the pensioner's savings while she was a senior care worker at Dove Court, in Burnley.

The defendant sobbed in court as she admitted stealing £21,544.81 from Mrs Rigby on, or between October 1, 2009 and October 15, last year.

The magistrates would not deal with the case because they felt their powers of punishment were insuff-icient.

Launder, who had no previous convictions, was committed for sentence to Burnley Crown Court.

She will learn her fate on July 29.

The hearing was told a statement had been sent from the bank, saying Mrs Rigby was more than £1,100 overdrawn, but she should have had more than £19,000 in her account.

Prosecutor Parveen Akhtar said the defendant’s actions were a breach of trust and a ‘pre-meditated offending pattern over a year’.

Launder was granted bail by the magistrates, with conditions.

She must not contact the victim and must not approach within 300 metres of Dove Court Nursing Home, Burnley.