A son has admitted stealing more than £6,000 from his elderly mother who had dementia to pay off 'mounting debt'.

Carl Peach, 54, admitted two counts of theft at Norwich Magistrates Court this morning.

His mother lives at a residential care home in North Walsham, and Peach had access to her bank account and pension to help pay her care fees.

Prosecutor Josephine Jones told the court: 'Care home fees were not being paid and enquiries revealed the defendant was accessing his mother's account and using money other than for residential care.

'When interviewed he said his mother had lapsed into dementia and he was travelling once a week from Kent to see her.

'There were issues over payment of bills so he started to assist her. When she went into care he started to get invoices from the county council.

'He struggled to pay them because he was still paying off her debts.

'He says her pension only just covered the county council bills, and he said some of the money was used to pay ground rent for the caravan she had lived in previously.

'In early 2017 he started incorporating his mother's money into his own.

'This is a serious breach of trust of a vulnerable person who relied on her son to look after her finances.'

Claire Edgeler, for Peach, said around half of the money taken had gone to pay outstanding bills for his mother.

'He categorically accepts he took money out of her Post Office account,' she said.

'Some of the money went to himself, some of the money, he would say, was used to pay her bills.'

Peach, of Bowling Green Road, Kettering, will return to court in March 7 for a Newton hearing to determine how much of the money he benefited from.