A WOMAN who systematically stole her adoptive parents’ life savings was last night beginning an 18-month jail term.

Sarah Cotterell, 29, of Blenheim Drive, Witney, appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to two counts of theft at an earlier hearing.

The mother-of-four, who is expecting a fifth child in March, took £56,943.32 from the bank accounts of Pamela and Albert Cotterell between December 2003 and March 2007.

Hugh Williams, prosecuting, said Cotterell, her partner and their children moved into her parents’ house in 2003.

He said: “Albert and Pamela allowed Sarah to pay their bills for them and collect money from their Lloyds bank accounts – one joint, and a sole one in Pamela’s name.

“Albert was ill and in and out of hospital, and that was the reason for this.

“In October 2007, Sarah fell out with her partner and they moved out.

“Her parents went to their bank and wanted to get money. They thought there would be approximately £23,000 in there, and, in fact, in the meantime there had been an inheritance sum of £25,000 paid in.

“They found one bank account had been closed and in the sole bank account in 2007 there was an overdraft of about £300.”

Mr Williams said Cotterell stole the money using cheques and debit cards.

He said: “Sarah had forged her mother’s signature and then used her mother’s debit cards. Some of the money was paid into her own bank account.

“She had also set up a Next directory account in her mother’s name in September 2007, and an order had been made for clothes totalling £27.25. No payment was ever received by Next.”

James Reilly, defending, said: “The amount was used to fund day-to-day debts and interest on debts.

“It was nothing extravagant, but (she was) living beyond her means.

“She’s really ashamed of what she has done and wants to pay the money back if she can.

“She has acted in a shameful manner and there’s no way of dressing that up. She accepts what she has done is wrong.”

Mr Reilly said Cotterell had to care for her disabled eight-year-old son, Harvey, and this may have contributed to the thefts.

He added: “She possibly concentrated more on that financially and that has led her into this difficulty.”

Sentencing Cotterell, who has previous convictions for handling stolen goods, obtaining goods by deception and benefit fraud, Judge Anthony King said: “You stole from your parents.

“It wasn’t just on occasion when you did so, but over a period of time, in effect, you stole their life savings.”

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk