A nurse has avoided jail after stealing bank details from elderly patients with dementia and mental health issues to spend on clothes online.

Stacey Marie Banfield, 31, blew the money on items from outlets including River Island and Boohoo.

The alarm was raised when relatives of two patients at Neath Port Talbot Hospital, Wales, noticed unexpected bank account transactions in the summer of 2017.

Police arrested Banfield after speaking to the online retailers and tracing the orders back to her home.

She owned up to abusing her position and taking the Ward G patient’s details while being interviewed by officers.

Helen Randall, prosecuting, said the defendant told police she had been ‘living well beyond her means at the time’.

Banfield, of Port Talbot, admitted to spending around £589 from her victims – an 88-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman.

She previously pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation before her sentencing at Swansea Crown Court.

Hannah George, defending, said the nurse had worked for the NHS 10 years before the incident and had been ‘dedicated to those she cared for’.

The court heard how the defendant had no previous convictions and had been ‘deep in debt’, relying on numerous payday loans at the time she swindled the patients.

The barrister said her client was ‘deeply ashamed’ about her behaviour and was remorseful for what she had done.

She said the defendant had turned to the chaplain of her local church for support following her arrest.

Judge Keith Thomas told Banfield said: ‘All right-minded people would be disgusted by this sort of behaviour and rightly so.’

He said the offending would normally warrant immediate custody.

But the judge decided to spare Banfield jail based on a pre-sentence report, letters submitted on behalf of the defendant and the long delay in bringing the case to court.

He gave her a 12 month sentence, suspended for 18 months.

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