A drug addict who stole £17,000 from the elderly aunt who raised him has been banned from going near her and jailed for two years.

Olive Mills, 87, was heartbroken when she learnt that Kyle Dwyer, the nephew she had raised as a son since the age of five, had emptied an account containing her late husband’s pension money.

At the time of the thefts, unemployed cocaine user Dwyer was living under his aunt’s roof rent-free and she was giving him £15 a day spending money.

But after she gave him her pin number to withdraw some money and buy an oven, he systematically cleaned out her account, withdrawing £400 a time.

Dwyer, 38, of Thompson Road, Gorton , tried to cover up his crimes by hiding his aunt’s cards and bank statements. But in March this year, after six months of him stealing her cash, she finally realised what he was up to, confronted him, and contacted police.

He has now been jailed for two years after admitting theft - and banned from going near his aunt by an indefinite restraining order.

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In a moving statement, Mrs Mills said: “This has made me feel very betrayed. He has breached my trust. I have brought him up as his mother couldn’t cope and have given him everything. If my husband was alive he would have killed him - he wouldn’t have let him get away with this, this was his pension money that he worked hard for.

“Kyle is in my will but I will have to remove him. I love Kyle with all my heart, but he can’t love me, to do this kind of thing to me.”

Mrs Mills has been told the bank will not be refunding the money.

Paul Bryning, defending Dwyer, said: “He hid from his family and those who knew him a heinous addiction to cocaine - it was his dirty little secret.

"In October he faced for the first time in his life a period of unemployment when he no longer had the means to feed his addiction. He believed he would be back in employment quite quickly and be able to replace the money. He was wrong.

"He didn’t find himself back in employment and this spiralled out of control. He describes the confrontation with his auntie in one respect as a huge weight off his shoulders. He’s left feeling very guilty about the betrayal.”

Sending him down, Recorder Andrew Jefferies QC said: “You took systematically stole from your vulnerable aunt to the tune of £16,677 - no doubt as she continued to care for you, house you, feed you and support you.”