A former nursing home matron who rifled the bank accounts of patients has been ordered to pay more than £134,000 in compensation.

Susie Forbes was released at the end of last year from an 18-month jail sentence.

She had been found guilty of 24 counts of theft, false accounting and obtaining property by deception after a month-long trial.

Forbes, aged 54, of Oak Tree Cottage, Hanley Swan, near Malvern, also took her case to the Court of Appeal in London but lost and had her conviction confirmed.

She was matron and managing director of Pirton Grange in Pirton, near Pershore, before being investigated and sacked.

A court order froze shares she bought in the home - which specialised in nursing the terminally ill - during her employment.

Nicolas Cartwright, prosecuting, said Forbes had benefited from her criminal activities to the tune of £100,594.

But the losses amounted to £134,792 and Judge Andrew Geddes made a compensation order in that amount. He gave Forbes three months to pay or face a two-year prison sentence in default.

The compensation includes £88,248 to Pirton Grange and £44,634 to Lloyds TSB bank which compensated the victims Forbes had fleeced.

Clapping broke out in the public gallery at Worcester Crown Court as the judge wound up the financial side of the notorious case.

Forbes' barrister Abigail Nixon did not oppose the compensation claim.

The defendant's realisable assets were enough to pay off the money she owed.

During the trial, the jury heard that Forbes used the home's credit card to buy wine, clothing and groceries for her family.

She fleeced patients' bank accounts between May 2002 and November 2003 after identifying flaws in accounting procedures.