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A CRUEL carer splurged £10,000 she stole from a patient’s dementia-stricken wife on fake tan, KFC and cigarettes.

Danielle Houghton helped herself to the 91-year-old’s bank card while she was meant to be looking after her bed-bound husband.

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Houghton, 32, blew the cash on trips to tanning shops, gambling sites and Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions.

She also spent it at Sports Direct and KFC, and used it to buy petrol, cigarettes and alcohol over a three-month period.

Her scheming was only exposed three months later when the victim’s children noticed the transactions and alerted police.

Houghton has now been jailed for two years and nine months after pleading guilty to theft and fraud by false representation.

Sadly, the victim and her husband passed away before they could see Houghton brought to justice.

Preston Crown Court heard the heartless thief was meant to be caring for the 92-year-old man when she targeted his wife.

Footage showed Houghton at various stores and cash machines spending the stolen money.

The woman’s son said in a victim impact statement: “‘Something bad has been done to me, but I cannot remember what it is…’

“That heartbreaking phrase was my frail, vulnerable, and deeply upset Mum’s constant refrain.

“‘Something bad has been done to me’. She carried that desolate anxiety to her grave, unable to quietly enjoy the tranquillity of her home and garden in her final months, haunted by a distress she couldn’t resolve.

“Danielle Houghton’s criminal actions have also regrettably tarnished the reputation of care providers in a sector already facing immense challenges.”

Houghton stole a total of £9,773 with much of it withdrawn from cash machines, and tried to take a further £800.

DC Peter Bennett of Lancaster Criminal Investigation Department said “Houghton’s selfish actions against a vulnerable lady are despicable.

“I welcome the prison sentence handed down to her which not only punishes her actions, but sends out a clear message to others who might be tempted to offended in a similar manner.

“Their mother died not knowing that the person responsible for taking half her life savings had faced justice, and their father also died during the course of the investigation, which increases the suffering of the family.”

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It took until August, but the starting rotation the Dodgers envisioned in spring training is intact and delivering.

Vowing not to revisit the predicament they found themselves in last postseason, when only two true starters and a stacked bullpen somehow patched together enough innings to win a World Series, the Dodgers added two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell to a rotation that already boasted four potential aces and several other candidates coming off injuries or ascending from the minor leagues.

Snell complained of shoulder inflammation April 2 after his second start and took his sweet time recovering — four months, to be precise. But if his performance against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium is a fair indication, the wait was worthwhile.

Snell struck out 10 in five scoreless innings of a 9-1 Dodgers victory, living up to the Snellzilla nickname he stole from his older brother as a brash 11-year-old and still uses as his Instagram handle. In two starts since coming off the injured list, the left-hander has 18 strikeouts in 10 innings.

The Dodgers offense was fueled by the long ball early on, with Max Muncy belting a two-run, opposite-field home run in the fourth inning and Shohei Ohtani absolutely crushing his 40th homer of the season 417 feet to dead center in the fifth with nobody on base.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hits his 40th home run of the season Saturday against the Blue Jays.

(Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

A six-run rally an inning later put the game away. Two hit batters and two walks set the table, and Dalton Rushing and Mookie Betts each delivered two-run singles with none out. Andy Pages drove in the last two with a two-out double, his second hit of the inning.

The win was the second in a row against Toronto (68-50), which remain in first place in the American League East. The series concludes Sunday with another formidable starter — Tyler Glasnow — taking the mound for the Dodgers (68-49).

Glasnow took a similar if less pronounced path than Snell this season, going on the injured list before the end of April and not returning until July 9. He has given up only one run in four of his five starts since returning and most recently went seven strong innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s clear that Snell and Glasnow are healthy, their arms as fresh and live as would be expected coming out of spring training. The same is true of Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw, two future Hall of Famers whose recoveries from injuries also were methodical and unhurried. Both are pitching well.

And so is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the only starter whose health hasn’t cost him time off. He’s made 22 starts, going 10-7 with a 2.51 earned-run average and leads National League starters with eight scoreless outings.

The Dodgers employ a sixth starter to give Ohani and Yamamoto five to seven days off between starts. The job belonged to Dustin May until he was traded to the Red Sox at the deadline, creating an opportunity for Emmet Sheehan, who was impressive over 60 innings as a rookie in 2023, but had Tommy John surgery in May 2024.

He’s pitched well, posting a 3.00 ERA over 30 innings, giving the Dodgers a luxury they haven’t enjoyed in recent memory: trotting out a starting pitcher every night that can prevent runs through the middle innings.

That leaves the bullpen to finish the job, and injuries and inconsistency continue to riddle the relief corps. Roberts said help is on the way, with several key relievers on the mend. If they return as effective as the starters, pitching could be a Dodgers strength entering the postseason.