A MOTHER-of-five who "stepped over" an elderly man after he fell at his home and then went upstairs to steal his wife's jewellery has been jailed.

Charlotte McLachrie invited herself in to the 80-year-old man's home as he was being helped by a passer-by and stuffed her pockets with jewellery from upstairs, Worcester Crown Court heard.

The pensioner was being helped to his feet by 'good samaritan' Jennifer Bennett, who was delivering magazines in the area and had spotted him lying in his doorway, William Dudley, prosecuting, told the court.

As Miss Bennett was helping him and calling an ambulance, McLachrie said she wanted to use the bathroom and went upstairs.

But Miss Bennett saw her coming out of a bedroom with something in her hand and then spotted a necklace hanging out of the back of her jeans, Mr Dudley said.

She tried to grab the necklace but McLachrie shouted and swore at her before leaving. McLachrie was later arrested in Pershore town centre.

She had stolen the necklace, bracelets and rings worth a total of £275 but of significant sentimental value because they belonged to the man's wife, who was being cared for in a nursing home, the court heard.

"Some of the items have been recovered but not all of them," Mr Dudley said.

The victim, he said, had lost his trust in people coming to his home and had been forced to stop having the cleaner and carer he needed.

At the time of the offence, on August 29, last year, McLachrie was on bail for a robbery carried out in Abbey Gardens in Pershore on April 12. A 71-year-old woman with the early stages of Alzheimer's had taken £30 from the bank and gone shopping before settling down to a picnic lunch on a bench.

McLachrie approached her and asked for change for the phone.

She left and then returned and asked for 50p and when the woman refused, she grabbed her purse from the bench.

There was a "tug-of-war," Mr Dudley said, before McLachrie made off with the purse, leaving the woman with cuts and bruising to her hand and arm.

McLachrie, aged 44 and of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to robbery and burglary.

Barry Newton, defending, said McLachrie had suffered a "meltdown" last year.

She had one adult child and four younger children who were now being cared for by others and her friend died of a drugs overdose.

McLachrie had also been diagnosed with a bipolar illness brought on by stress and illicit drug use, he said.

The court heard she had a long history of previous convictions.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said the man was obviously elderly and incapacitated after falling in his doorway.

"You must have literally stepped over or around him to get into the property to steal his things," he told her.

She was given a total of three years in jail.