A thieving cleaner from Penzance who stole from a vulnerable blind 90-year-old client has narrowly escaped being sent to prison.

Megan Hitchens from Penzance forged two cheques for £975 while cleaning for Harry Carter who was registered blind and also had limited mobility in June 2022.

Hitchens was described by the prosecution as a carer and cleaner for Mr Carter, although the defence said she was just his cleaner. 

Truro Crown Court heard that Mr Carter was contacted by his bank about the cheques and he said he had not written or signed them.

The next day he warned Hitchens about the banking irregularities that had been flagged up by his bank after he gave her his bank card to draw out her wages.

He gave her his bank card and pin number to withdraw £150 to cover her wages - but she also withdrew an extra £150 which she kept. Mr Carter has now died.

Mother of one Hitchens, aged 24, Penzance, admitted two frauds and one theft and was jailed for 24 weeks, suspended for a year, and ordered to pay £150 compensation to Mr Carter's estate following his death in February 2023.

Judge Robert Linford said: "You were a carer and cleaner for a 90-year-old blind man. You exploited that high degree of trust against an extremely vulnerable person."