A FORMER councillor accused of “getting her hooks” into a vulnerable widower has been found guilty of stealing £46,000 from him.

But Stephanie Todd was not in court to hear the verdict, her trial at Teesside Crown Court having continued without her after she fell ill.

The 57-year-old, a former UKIP representative for Hipswell on Richmondshire District Council, who had denied theft, was admitted to hospital for tests at the weekend.

It is understood she subsequently remained in North Yorkshire where she was being cared for by a relative.

Todd was accused of plundering the bank account of a 98-year-old retired telecoms worker over three years and having pressured him into changing his will so his estate could be left to her.

However she said she merely cared for him, charging him £10 an hour, and in fact improved his life during the time they had known each other.

In her evidence she said she had the victim’s consent to spend money from his bank card and used it to buy things for him.

The jury heard that she cooked and washed for the pensioner and did his food shopping, but abused her position of trust as a carer to also steal his money.

When she was arrested at her home in June 2016, police found bank statements – diverted from his previous solicitors – and the pensioner’s cash card.

But before her illness Todd denied any wrongdoing, telling her trial: “There were no big wads of cash in my house, I have not paid off my credit card bills, I have not been on any holidays.”

Prosecutor Paul Newcombe accused her of being “thoroughly dishonest” in her dealings with the former serviceman and his finances by not keeping a record of them.

He also said she had failed to draw a line between the use of his money for himself and for her and used the cash card with reckless abandon to benefit herself.

Jonny Walker, for Todd, of Shute Road, Catterick Garrison, said medical evidence was needed in the case and this would take time to gather.

It is expected the defendant will be sentenced sometime during the New Year.

Judge Stephen Ashurst thanked the jury for their patience during the trial after it suffered a number of stop/starts.