A CHARD woman who abused the trust of an elderly friend, helped herself to his bank card and used it to withdraw thousands of pounds from his account.

Julia Bond used the card on 26 separate occasions without the victim’s knowledge, and when he realised it was missing the police were alerted.

When she was arrested she admitted the offence which occurred over a five week period and accepted she had a key to his address, Somerset Magistrates were told.

Bond, 42, of Bampton Avenue, Chard, pleaded guilty that between September 1 and 9 at Tatworth she stole a Barclaycard bank card belonging to Terrence Harvey.

She also admitted that between September 9 and October 17 she committed fraud by using a bank card belonging to Mr Harvey to make a gain of £2,925.81 for herself.

Prosceutor Julyan Stephens said: “Mr Harvey was an 83-year-old vulnerable man and Bond has been his friend for a period of time and they used to go out for lunches together etc and she also has a key to his address.

“He noticed that his bank card had been taken and it had been used to complete a number of transactions and a total of £2,925.81 was taken on 26 different occasions.

“He had no knowledge that the money was being taken from his account and did not authorise Bond to take it.”

He added that the defendant was not Mr Harvey’s carer but was more a good neighbour and caring friend who had a key to his house.

Defending solicitor Chris Baddoo said the case raised the issue of a breach of trust and involved a significant amount of money and a large number of different transactions.

The magistrates adjourned the case until May 25 for a full pre sentence report to be prepared by the Probation Service.

Bond was released on bail with conditions not to contact the victim directly or indirectly, not to go to his home address and to report to Chard police station the day before the next court hearing.