TWO pensioners were condemned for their "pure greed" as a judge jailed them for going on a £166,000 spending spree with money belonging to the woman's mother.

Elizabeth Ridd, 65, and her husband Peter, 68, splashed out on a new car and holidays just weeks after being put in charge of Betty Naylor's finances.

Mrs Naylor, who is in her 90s and suffering from dementia, was in a care home when her house in North Yorkshire was sold for more than £210,000 in 2015.

Her daughter was the trustee of her financial affairs because of her poor health, but should have used some of the money to pay for the pensioner's care.

Instead, she and her husband transferred thousands of pounds into their own bank accounts, gave chunks to their son and bought a £24,000 caravan.

The conniving couple claimed the caravan was to treat Mrs Naylor to holidays - but she never left the care home, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

Prosecutor Shaun Dryden told Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, that Hambleton District Council has been left to foot the bill for the OAP's care.

Ridd's barrister Amrit Jandoo said she had been "over-zealous" in spending the money because she was the sole beneficiary of her mother's estate.

Andrew Finlay, for her retired joiner husband, told the court: "He accepts his dishonesty. In the back of his mind, he knew that it was wrong."

Jailing the Thirsk grandparents for two years, Judge Bourne-Arton told them: "This was not an act of over-zealousness. It was an act of pure greed."

The court heard that £212,876 was transferred into Mrs Naylor's bank account after the house sale in January 2015 - and by December the following year, there was just £33,000 left.

An investigation showed that in February 2015, the couple spent £15,000 at a Nissan dealership in York at £3,000 at Thirsk Travel, said Mr Dryden.

The following month there was a cash withdrawal of £3,000, a further £2,000 was paid to the travel agents, and £34,000 was given to their son.

In an interview last January, they admitted they had spent the money, said Mr Dryden, who added: "There was some suggestion some of the items had been bought for the benefit of Mrs Naylor - the caravan, for example.

"They said it had been bought with a view of her having holidays there, but such was her condition she never, effectively, left the care home.

"It doesn't appear to have been bought for her specifically, and she certainly was not fit enough or well enough to go on holiday.

"The money seems to have been spent solely for the benefit of the defendants, and some of it was given to their son."

Mr Jandoo said: "Their remorse is self-evident. They are horrified to be in this position and before the court with such staggering consequences.

"It has not been through malice to harm Mrs Naylor. It has been too quick, too soon, to spend that money."

The couple, of Long Street, Thirsk, admitted fraud, and were told by the judge: "This was money that was spent over a year.

"Not one thought did you give your mother and mother-in-law. It is said she had no idea, such is her capacity.

"It is said the only people who have lost are the council, but it's the Council Taxpayers who have lost. You have essentially deprived the public of money.

"It is said you were too quick to spend the money coming your way. Another way of putting it, too greedy, because within a matter of weeks of the money going into her account, you were spending it, and you were spending it not for her or her care, but for your own selfish reasons - caravans, cars and holidays.

"You should have been planning for your own retirement and your own care rather than spending this money."