A "cruel" Rainham mother who ripped off an elderly neighbour, has been ordered to repay her victim £225,000 or face longer in jail.

Helen Pavitt, 51, pocketed more than £260,000 by stealing from the woman she described as her "second mum".

Now a judge has ordered her to repay the victim Joy Millen from a quarter share of equity she has in a property in Barleymow Close, Chatham.

Pavitt, of Chestfield Close, has now three months to pay £225,461 — the total of her available assets —or serve an additional two years and three months behind bars.
However if more assets become available she will be required to pay off the full amount.

She was sentenced to 43 months for stealing the cash in March this year.

Pavitt stole £256,863 from frail Mrs Millen, 87, in just three months and wiped out her life savings.

She bought a £50,000 mobile home, got £100,000 worth of premium bonds and repaid debts and transferred some of the money to other family members.

She stole the life-savings via standing orders, cheques and bank transfers which were taken from a number of bank accounts belonging to the pensioner.

Mrs Millen's bank became suspicious such large amounts of cash started to be withdrawn from the accounts.

The pensioner was suffering from minor dementia at the time of the incidents and since the cash was stolen, her family said her dementia is now more serious.

The bank asked Mrs Millen about the cheques and standing order but she told them she knew nothing about them.

On one occasion, Pavitt had accompanied the victim to the bank but the police were aware and arrested her at the branch after evidence pointed to her.

She was arrested and later charged and pleaded guilty to three offences of theft between May 3 and August 1 2017.

Judge Julian Smith sentenced her to three years and seven months in prison and described her offending as a "depletion of the victim's estate by a truly significant sum".

She showed no emotion as she was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court.

At the time, one close family member, who did not want to be named, said: "Joy is a lovely woman and she was targeted at her most vulnerable.

"What Pavitt has done is cruel, vicious and manipulative. It was disgusting. She is very cruel. It's disgusting.

"How can you target somebody who was so vulnerable? It's absolutely awful.

"Joy is nowhere near the same as she was.

"This has been a horrendous experience for her knowing somebody she trusted could do that to her.

"Her savings have been snatched away from her. If Pavitt had money problems why couldn't she work towards paying them off like everybody else does in life?

"We're not happy with the sentence. It should have been much longer. It's disgraceful."

And it was at the same court this week she was ordered to pay back the cash at a confiscation hearing.

Although she stole £256,863, the total benefit figure is £267,782, to take into account inflation.

The rip-off had wiped out all of the victim's savings.

Det Supt Paul Fotheringham, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "I am very pleased that the victim of Pavitt’s disgraceful crimes will receive such a large amount of compensation, which I hope will be of comfort to her after the emotional ordeal she was put through.

"Pavitt has been assessed as having this amount available to pay to the victim, and should she fail to do so then she will have an additional two years and three months added to her prison sentence.

"This case is yet another example of how valuable the Proceeds of Crime Act is in ensuring those who commit offences for financial gain are not allowed to continue to benefit following their conviction."

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