AN elderly widow said she felt betrayed after her carer stole her engagement ring and sold it for just £25.

Bolton Crown Court heard Karen Robinson’s 75-year-old victim had treated her like a daughter.

The theft was discovered after Robinson left her husband a note saying she was leaving him – and he became suspicious when he found a receipt for Cost Converters among her possessions.

David Lees, prosecuting, said he contacted the pensioner asking if any of her jewellery had gone missing and when her daughters checked they discovered their mother’s engagement ring was gone.

The widow could last recall wearing it on Christmas Day, after which she had put it back in its box.

“Her husband died 18 years ago and it was of particularly sentimental value to her,” said Mr Lees.

The court heard that 49-year-old Robinson was aged just 11 when she got to know the pensioner through being friends with her daughter.

Then in June, 2015, after the widow started suffering health and mobility problems, she began to work as her carer, having a key for her home so she could make her breakfast and do household chores.

Mr Lees added that the elderly woman placed a great deal of trust in Robinson.

“She treated her as a daughter,” he said.

Enquiries with Cash Converters revealed that Robinson had sold them a number of her own items, as well as her employer’s ring, on February 6.

She was paid just £25 for the ring, but fortunately the shop had not resold it and it has been returned to its owner.

In a victim impact statement read out in court the widow said: “This incident has left me cold. I was like a mother to Karen Robinson – I feel betrayed.”

Robinson, of Tennyson Road, Farnworth, pleaded guilty to theft and the court heard she has a previous conviction for benefit fraud dating back to 2014.

Nicholas Ross, defending, said Robinson is ashamed of her behaviour at a time when she had got herself into debt and was gambling.

“It was her emotional instability at the time which coincided with her running away from her life and spending a night living rough in Manchester,” said Mr Ross, who added that Robinson’s husband is now taking care of the family finances.

Sentencing Robinson to 10 months in prison suspended for two years, Judge Timothy Stead stressed the importance the ring would have had to its owner.

“Its intrinsic value may have been modest – its value to the owner must be incalculable,” he said.

He told Robinson: “You were trusted to be a carer and an assistant for someone you had known for decades.

“Of all the things to steal from her, you stole her engagement ring.”

Robinson was also ordered to undertake 10 days of rehabilitation activity and will be subject to a 7pm to 6am electronically monitored curfew for 90 days.