A "despicable and cruel" carer stole more than £16,000 from a deaf and blind man to clear his gambling debt - after spending three years gaining his trust.

Lewis Roles served as a carer for the 74-year-old man for three years, during which time he earned his victim's trust and friendship.

However, King's Lynn Crown Court heard how the 32-year-old, of Ouse Avenue, South Lynn, abused this trust to help himself to thousands of pounds of the pensioner's hard-earned money.

The court heard how Roles had been trusted with his victim's PIN numbers and stole cash from his two bank accounts after getting himself into thousands of pounds of gambling debt.

Matthew Sorel-Cameron, prosecuting, added that on one occasion Roles had also splashed out on a gaming laptop worth £899 after withdrawing £2,000 from accounts in the space of two days in September 2021.

Mr Sorel-Cameron said that on one occasion Roles had let himself into his victim's King's Lynn home, crept into his bedroom and helped himself to bank cards while the man slept.

In a statement read out on the victim's behalf, he said: "I trusted Lewis to look after me but he took advantage of me while I was in bed.

"I trusted him and told him my bank account balance was going down and he offered to help me change the PIN numbers -which I thought kind at the time."

He added: "I like Lewis and knew that he was having financial struggles. If he had simply asked, I would have helped him out."

Michael Clare, for Roles, said that his client had entered a guilty plea and had admitted his actions were "calculated, mean, despicable and cruel".

But he argued that the former carer should avoid jail as it would allow him to continue working at KFC and recuperate the money he had stolen from his vulnerable victim and repay him.

Sentencing Roles, judge John Bate-Williams said: "These offences involved such a serious breach of trust placed into you by a vulnerable and elderly man."

In total, Roles stole £16,283.30 from his victim, across 63 transactions between June and September 2021.

He was given three separate prison sentences, to be served concurrently, totalling 20 months in custody.