A WOMAN who stole more than £1,000 from her disabled sister who was recovering in hospital after a fall left her paralysed, should be “thoroughly ashamed” of herself, said a judge.

Carol Davies, 56, escaped an immediate prison sentence for the March-December 2016 theft against Elizabeth Thomas.

But Judge DJ Hales imposed a 26-week jail term, suspended for a year, and ordered Davies, of Tredegar Road, Willowtown, Ebbw Vale, to do 80 hours of unpaid work. She must also pay £1,000 compensation to her sister, and a £115 victim surcharge.

The sentence followed a trial in which Davies pleaded not guilty to the theft of more than £2,000.

At a Newport Crown Court sentencing hearing, Judge Hales told her: “Your sister suffered life-changing injuries when she broke her spine and is in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. In the time following that accident you were asked and agreed to look after her finances, which only involved the receipt of benefit.

“She needed things to survive eight months in hospital before your involvement came to an end - fruit, clothes, magazines, toiletries - and you properly provided those from the money she was given by the State.

“But you, because of financial pressure or greed, decided to take more.You can see quite clearly from the monies you took out of her Post Office account.”

Mrs Thomas spent eight months in four hospitals, mainly the Royal Gwent in Newport and Rookwood in Cardiff. At her trial, Davies claimed she and her husband visited her sister six days a week and all the money she spent was on Mrs Thomas.

Judge Hales acknowledged that Mrs Thomas agreed to pay £30 a week for petrol, and had paid for lunches out, but said he had no doubt Davies had stolen “somewhere over” £1,000 and “probably nearer £1,500”.

“You very meanly took that money,” he said, adding that there was a high degree of breach of trust involved.

“She had nobody else to trust but you. She thought you worthy of trust.

“It is to your eternal shame that you took this money. You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.”

In a statement read in court, Mrs Thomas said that her sister’s thievery had destroyed her trust in close family.

“I am very upset that my own family could do such a thing. I feel very let down, when the care and support of my family was needed most.”