Tracy Davies also told a jury at Preston Crown Court that she was not concerned about her debts but she admitted that looking back she did have a gambling problem.

Davies of Levens Drive, Heysham, is accused of stealing thousands of pounds from elderly residents.

The jury was told that she had debts and allegedly made withdrawals from elderly residents' bank accounts.

She worked as a supervisor for Carewatch who did work for Beck View , sheltered council accommodation in Lancaster, where the three victims lived.

Two of them, Elaine Charnley and Derek Dixon, have since died and the third victim was Alwyn Sivell who is in her 70s.

Davies told the court she started work for Carewatch in 2003 as a field care supervisor. In November 2005 she was allocated to Beck View to
be supervisor.

Davies said when she started with the company she was shown a 10 to 15 minute video and was not told the "do's and don'ts" of caring.

She was given a handbook and was not told about accepting gifts.

Davies said she had a good relationship with Mrs Charnely and grew close to her.

In November 2002 Mrs Charnley gave her a cheque for £200 as a gift.

She told the jury she had not asked for a loan and had never asked for money.

"Elaine was very persuasive. I said no at first. She did get upset and said it was her money and she could do what she wanted with it," Davies said.

Davies made out the body of the cheque and Mrs Charnley signed it.

She wrote numerous cheques for her.

Miss Farhat Arshad, defending, said it had been suggested Mrs Charnley had dementia and she would not have known what she was doing.

Davies did not accept that.

She also said it was not true that she was the only person using cards at ATM machines.

Davies said she had used the card of Mrs Sivell more than that of Mr Dixon. She bought clothes and shopping for Mr Dixon and put the change from £200 in a container.

"Did you on any occasion use his card or his money for your own purpose," asked Miss Arshad. "No I did not," replied Davies who also denied using it to play at Gala Bingo.

In relation to Mrs Sivell, Davies told the jury she was aware of what she was going and did not have dementia.

She said that she had asked that Mrs Sivell's bank statement be put in her locker as there had been incidents of statements going missing.

When she got back off holiday in May 2006 she was aware there was an issue of money going missing.

Davies said cash paid into her account was from repayment of loans from family or from bingo winnings.

She had stopped getting cash from her credit cards at the time of the offences as her partner had cut them up.

He was not aware she was playing bingo as much as she was and playing on the slot machines had gone up from 50p to £2.

At the time she did not think she had a problem gambling, but looking back she did.

When asked about her overdraft Davies replied:"I have never been a money person. It does not bother me that I am on overdraft."

(Proceeding).