A care home manager who took money from a 98-year-old dementia sufferer has narrowly avoided jail.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard how it was against the regulations to accept financial gifts from anyone in her care, but, Elizabeth Donaghy befriended frail Ellie Thomson, a resident of the Stanely Park Care Home in the town.

Donaghy had been left "in dire straits" after her husband walked out on her, said defence agent Jonathan Manson.

By that time, she had developed a close personal relationship with Ms Thomson and had told her about her financial plight.

The elderly resident took pity on her and gave her money, which Donaghy conceded she should not have accepted.

When Ms Thomson's condition subsequently deteriorated and a financial guardian was put in place to look after her affairs, she wrote to that lawyer asking for funds be issued to purchase clothing and a television set and cashed the cheque for £850 when it arrived, then kept the money.

The court was told that solicitor Frank Irvine subsequently contacted her on several occasions requesting receipts to keep within the regulations, but received no response.

When Donaghy then left Stanely Park Care Home to take up a new appointed at a similar establishment, and her replacement found out what had happened and ordered a cash audit, it was discovered that although the cheque had been cashed, none of the items had been provided to Ms Thomson.

When quizzed, Donaghy, 46, admitted she had kept the money and had "let everyone down." She was suspended from her job and eventually dismissed.

In court she admitted obtaining the cash by fraud between 2013 and 2014 at Stanely Park Care Home in Stanely Road.

Mr Manson described his client as a tragic individual who had never been in trouble before. Her career and life were now in tatters, he said.

Donaghy, now of Carriagehill Drive, Paisley, had developed a good, close and personal relationship with her victim and at that time, Ms Thomson was quite able to give instructions, even though she was very elderly and frail.

Donaghy confided in her that she was in dire straits after her husband left her, and as Ms Thomson "had the capacity to give her money," she accepted gifts.

The old lady's mental capacity worsened, however and after the financial guardian was appointed, she acted as outlined as she felt Ms Thomson would have been "more than happy to help her out."

"Initially what she did was a serious breach of trust but not a crime," said Mr Manson, "but that developed when Mr Irvine was appointed financial guardian."

He added: "She has suffered greatly as a result of her indiscretion.

"This is a serious breach of trust and she has lost her job and cannot ever be employed in the same capacity again.

"She has lost everything. She is in dire straits."

Sheriff Tom McCartney said that he had given very careful consideration to the possibility of a prison sentence as there was "strong public interest in protecting persons like Ms Thomson at that stage of their life."

Describing the offence as a serious breach of trust involving a vulnerable elderly person, he had reached the conclusion that custody could be avoided.

Due to the absence of any previous offending and after all that had been said, he made her the subject of a community payback order requiring her to complete 240 hours of unpaid work in a nine-month period, warning that if she failed comply she would have to face the consequences.