A CARE home manager who fleeced vulnerable elderly residents out of more than £23,000 was stealing from them after she “fell in love” with another fraudster.

Helen Hughes, 56, of Monnow Way, Bettws, Newport, swindled five victims at the city’s Ashton Park Care Home over a six-year period.

Prosecutor Jason Howell told Cardiff Crown Court she pocketed their allowances and used their debit cards.

Some of her victims were widowed, in their 80s and 90s and two have since died.

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Cardiff Crown Court heard how she herself had been duped by a con artist she met on a Christian dating website in a “cruel scam”.

Hughes was duped after she gave money to a crook who claimed he was an American serviceman in Afghanistan who was going to inherit millions.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and five charges of theft, committed between December 2012 and November 2018.

Judge Daniel Williams told Hughes: “You are aged 56 and have no previous convictions which beggars the question of why you embarked on this seriously dishonest behaviour.

“The answer is found in the pre-sentence report.

“You met a man on an online Christian dating website who turned out to be a conman who you fell in love with.

“He promised you the world and you were taken in by him. He said he lived on a naval base and on his return to America, there would be millions in inheritance waiting.

“That may have been seen as transparent by some, but you were utterly taken in by it.”

Judge Williams said that her offending had been “particularly mean” and added: “This involved a terrible breach of trust.”

Mr Howells read the victim impact statement of the care home owner Bishnu Khanal who said he had been left out of pocket by £12,000 and had compensated residents and their families.

He told how he paid £3,000 in funeral costs.

Mr Khanal said: “One resident moved to a different home and others may not have come because of the knowledge of what happened.

“The home’s reputation has been tarnished and further publicity could cause that affect as well.”

James Evans, mitigating, said: “I would ask your honour to take into account the defendant’s guilty pleas. She is a lady of 56 with no previous convictions.

“She was the victim of a cruel scam herself. She very foolishly sent large sums of money to someone claiming to be a serviceman in Afghanistan.

“The defendant also used to be an NVQ assessor in social care. She is now a shelf stacker in a warehouse on £300 a week.”

Mr Evans said Hughes also cares for a son who suffers from autism.

She was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years.

Hughes was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and to pay a £100 victim surcharge.