A CALLOUS student stole almost £700 from her 103-year-old great grandmother to pay off drug debts for her friends.

Bethan Louise Lawson, 18, used the frail woman's bank card to syphon off cash from her weekly pension.

Lawson claimed she stole the cash to pay off a drug debt racked up by her "so-called friends".

But it emerged she also treated herself to computer software worth a further £79.99, using victim Wilhelmina Lawson's bank card to foot the bill.

Magistrates heard that at the time, the youth had been living with her grandmother Caroline Lawson who has since kicked her out.

Simon Crowder, prosecuting, told Peterlee Magistrates' Court how Caroline had control over her mother's finances.

She kept her bank card and pin number in a china cabinet, only to be used to withdraw and pass on pension money every Tuesday.

Mr Crowder said: "On February 26, when doing that, the cash machine refused her.

"She went into the bank and the pin number had been changed and Caroline Lawson was unaware of that.

"An incorrect number had been entered on three occasions on February 23."

Suspecting that something was wrong, Caroline inspected bank statements revealing that the cash, totalling £600, had been withdrawn on six different times, along with a debit to Staples.

"She confronted the defendant who made full admissions to having taken the card and using it," added the prosecutor.

Tony Jackson, mitigating, said the Hartlepool Sixth Form College student turned to theft as a last resort after "so called friends" gave her name to a drug dealer who threatened her for cash.

"She was not a drug taker but her name was put forward as someone who the drug dealer could look to for money," he said.

"He threatened to haunt the college and she was genuinely afraid that he was going to do her some serious harm.

"The reason that it was not a one-off was that this man was demanding more and more money," he added.

Lawson, who is now living in temporary accommodation in Gainford House, Hartlepool, was said to be dedicated to her studies for which she planned to use the computer software.

She previously pleaded guilty to theft of a cash card and theft of £679.99, between February 21 and February 26, and making a false representation on February 26.

The court heard she also admitted breaching a six-month conditional discharge given for a public order offence last year.

Magistrates gave Lawson a 12-month community order with a supervision requirement involving a compulsory citizenship programme.

They also ordered her to do 100 hours unpaid work and pay £679.99 back to her great grandmother.