Home help 'took €3,000 from man, 97'

A home help took almost £2,000 (€3,000) from the 97-year-old man she cared for after falling into financial difficulties, a court heard today.

Tamara Milligan, 32, from Newbridge Park, Coleraine, Derry, was given a nine-month jail term, suspended for three years, after being told she had committed a serious breach of trust.

Milligan, a married mother-of-three, who was employed by social services in the town, was arrested after making withdrawals of £1,000 (€1,500) and £950 (€1,400) from the pensioner’s account between July and August last year.

Her solicitor told Coleraine Magistrates Court that Milligan had experienced financial problems and had always intended to pay the money back.

But magistrate Richard Wilson told Milligan, who had worked as a home help for ten years: “You should not have done it in the first place.”

She admitted obtaining the money by deception.