A gambling addict who stole more than £30,000 from a resident with Alzheimer’s Disease while working at a Bradford care home has been told he will go to jail if he doesn’t pay most of the money back.

Robert Miller, 60, had given the woman’s family the impression that he was involved in the management of the Heaton Grange Care Home when he had only been employed to do cooking and other jobs, a court heard earlier this year.

When concerned relatives started making enquiries into the victim’s financial affairs his wife Susan, who was the home’s manager, tried to “put them off the scent” out of misplaced loyalty to her husband, according to a judge.

Miller, also 60, and her husband were both given suspended jail sentences in June, but they were back before Judge Colin Burn at Bradford Crown Court yesterday for a further hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act legislation.

Susan Miller pleaded guilty to theft in relation to £3000 of the woman’s money which she had already handed back to the family and today prosecutor Nadim Bashir said the POCA hearing against her was being discontinued.

In the summer she was sentenced four months in jail, suspended for a year, and ordered to comply with a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Robert Miller was given a two-year jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered to do the maximum 300 hours unpaid work for the community after he admitted stealing over £30,000 from the complainant.

He also pleaded guilty to fraud in relation to the woman’s care home fees which should have been paid to its owner Deepak Patel.

At the sentence hearing in June Judge Burn said it was clear that the woman had trusted Miller and there was no evidence that he had been unkind to her, but between 2013 and 2016 he had been “siphoning off” money which should have been paying her fees.

Judge Burn said the offending had caused reputational damage to the home and in a victim impact statement Mr Patel said he had suffered a loss of trust and stress because of the offending.

Prosecutor Michael Collins said Robert Miller, of Thornton Road, Bradford, had regularly taken the woman shopping and to the bank even before she became a resident at the home.

She would tell her sister, who lived in Canada, that she was grateful for what he did for her and Mr Collins said the family believed that Miller was a “joint manager” at the home.

“He was not. He was employed as a cook,” said Mr Collins.

In 2016 the family made contact with Robert Miller because an amendment had to be made to the complainant’s will and he offered to be an executor because her sister lived abroad.

The court heard that concerns were raised after the family started making inquiries into the woman’s finances in 2016 and Susan Miller told the complainant’s sister that she had rebuked he husband over his involvement.

“Robert Miller himself personally apologised. He said he was sorry he had given the impression he was the manager,” said Mr Collins.

The family eventually reported their concerns to the council and the police and when they managed to get the woman’s bank statements they noticed a number of unusual transactions.

Mr Collins said there was a payment for parking even though the complainant had never owned a car and another bill for menswear.

Barrister Peter Hampton, for Robert Miller, conceded it had been a disgraceful attack on the woman’s bank account, but he said his client had lived a good and honest life until the offending.

“He went into this field of work with the best of intentions and he is now brought as low as he could ever have imagined by what he has done,” said Mr Hampton.

“There is no secret that what lies behind this offending is a gambling addiction.”

Susan Miller’s barrister Oliver Jarvis said she was “embarrassed, ashamed and deeply sorry” for her involvement.

Mr Jarvis said she had tried to cover things up by handing the £3000 back and he indicated that her marriage had now broken down.

Today prosecutor Nadim Bashir said Robert Miller’s benefit figure from criminal conduct had been agreed at £30,579.52 and he had an available amount of £28,625.

It is understood that the money will be raised from the sale of a property and Judge Burn gave Miller three months to raise the cash.

The judge agreed to an application for the money recovered to be paid as compensation to Mr Patel and he warned Miller that he faced nine months in jail if the order was not complied with.

“If there is any serious problem in shifting the property for example you’ll need to speak to your solicitors because you’ll need to make an application within the three-month period for a single and final three-month extension,” said the judge.

“If you are knowingly in default or fail without any excuse to make any payment you are liable to a nine-month period of imprisonment.”