A woman who stole more than £10,000 from an elderly neighbour carried on with the thefts after being interviewed by police about the offences, a court has heard.

Maureen Marney, 66, befriended a neighbour whose cat and bird she looked after while the victim was in hospital.

Norwich Crown Court heard Marney went on to steal between £10,000 and £11,000 from the victim, now 73, over the course of more than two years.

The thefts happened between January 1 2017 and March 6 2019 before starting again on March 25 2019 and going through to July 14 2019.

Martin Ivory, prosecuting, said Marney was arrested and interviewed about the initial thefts on March 5 2019 before being released from custody.

He said: “However it seems that further missing monies came to light.”

Further examination of her bank account revealed more than £3,300 had been taken between March and July 2019.

Mr Ivory said: “The defendant carried on uninhibited and undeterred having been interviewed by police.”

Money that was taken from the victim’s account included payments for items on Amazon.

The court heard the victim, who is vulnerable, provided a statement to police stating she was surprised and disappointed that her friend stole from her although she did not want Marney to go to prison.

Marney, of Bowers Avenue, Norwich, who has previous convictions for theft and dishonesty offences, appeared in court on Monday (June 1) for sentence having admitted two counts of theft.

Judge Andrew Shaw described the defendant as a “thoroughly dishonest and greedy woman”.

Jailing her for 20 months he said the thefts were made more serious after Marney had gone on to “steal from your friend again” despite having been arrested and interviewed in relation to the earlier thefts.

Rob Pollington, mitigating, said it was a “sad tale” which had started with “good intentions” from Marney.

He said Marney had made “dramatic assumptions” about things her friend was not in a position to give legitimate consent about, adding she had seized upon the opportunity for financial gain.

He said it was the loss of a friendship that hurt her the most.