Greedy heiress who stole £216,000 from her dementia-stricken mother is ordered to pay back another £4k – after spending thousands pampering her Staffordshire bull terrier-type dogs

A greedy heiress who stole £216,000 from her mother who has Alzheimer's as if she was ‘taking candy from a baby' has been ordered to pay back another £4,000.

Care worker Luana Dougherty exploited Margaret Trimmer – who is in her 80s – to steal her life savings so she could buy household luxuries and pamper her two pet dogs.

The 50-year-old took advantage of the woman's illness to download a banking app onto her mobile phone so she could access her account. Over one four-day period, the manipulative mother-of-three transferred £20,000 a day into her own account as if she ‘taking candy from a baby.'

‘Uncaring and callous' Dougherty was caught after she bragged to her son she was going to put a £60,000 deposit on a house and other relatives made enquiries with Mrs Trimmer's bank.

She splashed out ‘thousands' on her Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type hounds, furniture, and setting up a dog breeding business. Facebook pictures also showed her enjoying a holiday in India with a male companion.

She had already been given a £125,000 share of Mrs Trimmer's fortune from the sale their £370,000 family home after she offered to look after her. Just £10,000 was left in her mother's account by the time the thefts were discovered.

Last September Dougherty, from Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port was jailed for four years after she admitted fraud by abuse of position and previously repaid £80,000.

It emerged she had spent ‘thousands' on her Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type hounds

Pictured is Dougherty posing with an elephant while on holiday in India

Last Friday she was brought back to Chester Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime hearing. 

The court heard Dougherty benefited to the tune of £156,318.24 but her only asset was a second hand Vauxhall Insignia car.

It will now be sold and the proceeds confiscated. If the car fails to secure the £4,000 asking price the court will reconvene to agree a lesser amount. She had previously transferred £80,000 back from her ill gotten gains.

In a statement to police, Dougherty's sister Sandra Clayton said Mrs Trimmer, who is in her 80s, was said to be ‘anxious and distressed' when told of her daughter's betrayal.

She said: ‘When mum sold up because she was unable to look after herself we agreed that Luana would look after her as she had worked in the care sector for people with dementia.

‘She had already received her share of £125,000 whilst the remaining money would be held in mum's bank account. But Luanna was amassing that money selfishly for herself. We now feel so foolish that we trusted her.

‘In fact she started accessing the money almost immediately. She had told us repeatedly that our mother was attending medical appointments. But in the 18 months she lived with her she received no doctors' appointments or diagnosis. 

At Chester Crown Court, Dougherty, from Great Sutton, admitted fraud by abuse of position

‘My mother's money would have provided the best possible care' for her. But the financial impact has meant we had no choice in a type of care home she would move into.

‘We are reliant on the local authority council to choose that place for her and top up £100 a week for mum's care.

Mrs Clayton added: ‘Luanna has not asked how she is, where she lives, or offered to pay any money. We have not received any money from her. She had showed no care or concern and had used her for what she could get out of her. She had no regard for the consequences, leaving us to pick up the pieces.'

At the time of her hearing at Chester Crown Court, Dougherty, from Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port admitted fraud by abuse of position.

Sentencing, the judge Mr Richard Conley told Dougherty: ‘What causes me immediate concern is that you seem to have an uncaring and callous attitude towards what you did.

‘You were a trusted member of your family and your siblings considered you were the person best placed to look after your mum in her old age as her symptoms of Alzheimer and dementia became progressively more serious. But it is clear their trust was entirely misplaced.

Pictured are Luana Dougherty's Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type dogs

‘You decided to exploit the position you were in and through greed and selfishness you continued to siphon off Mrs Trimmer's money. It was like taking candy from a baby.

‘It was a cynical exploitation of her and of the trust that she and your sister and wider members of your family placed in you. Day after day, time after time, there were financial transfers running up to £1000s, if not £10,000s, all to be frittered away by you on dogs, drugs, hare brained business ideas, or just profligacy on your behalf.

‘It is clear to me that this was selfishness on an epic scale committed by you, against a person who relied on you and trusted you more than anyone else in the world. I am bound to say, it is staggering for me to learn that someone who defrauded a vulnerable person of their own life savings is still working in the care sector.'

Mrs Trimmer's bank is understood to have reimbursed a sum of money to the victim.