A COUNCILLOR who was jailed for five years for stealing £154,000 from an elderly Alzheimer's sufferer has died in prison.

In 2014, 75-year-old John Morgan was found guilty of one count of theft after he emptied the bank account of Beryl Gittens, who was 92 when she died in 2012, and spent most of her savings on fruit machines and trips to Las Vegas.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "HMP Cardiff prisoner John Morgan died in hospital on Thursday, May 12.

"As with all deaths in custody there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman."

Speaking after the court hearing in 2014, the sister-in-law of Morgan's victim said the former Conservative Vale of White Horse district and Wantage town councillor "got what he deserved".

Vale of White Horse District Council leader Matthew Barber said this week he understood that Morgan's wife moved from Wantage.

He added: "The council has not been formally notified about Mr Morgan's death.

"A serious crime was committed and he was punished for it - nevertheless it is sad to hear he has passed away."

Morgan shook his head as sentence was announced at Oxford Crown Court and continued to insist that Mrs Gittens, for whom he had power of attorney, told him in 2005 to gamble away all her money to stop her extended family inheriting it when she died.

But passing sentence Judge Mary Jane Mowat said this was a "pathetic" lie and branded Morgan, of Highclere Gardens, Wantage, "arrogant and self-deluded".

Morgan’s theft, between March 2005 and January 2012, led to West Berkshire Council losing £76,000, which would have gone towards paying for Mrs Gittens’ care, and her son being deprived of a £71,000 inheritance.