STAFF at a care home had to buy clothes from a charity shop for a resident while his long-term pal raided his bank account of more than £8,000.

Michael Harris, aged 67, was given a 16-month prison sentence suspended for two years at Bolton Crown Court after admitting theft.

Rachel White, prosecuting, said Harris, of Church Street, Farnworth and his victim, 70-year-old Simon Panter had been friends for many years.

The pair lived together and when Mr Panter developed Parkinsons Disease and dementia he gave Harris his TSB bank card and PIN number to buy necessities out of the £400 a month Disability Living Allowance which was paid into the account.

But when Mr Panter’s health deteriorated further and he went to live in the Farnworth Care Home in the same street in December 2010, Harris kept the bank card and began helping himself to the money from a cashpoint.

Mr Panter’s care was funded by the local authority but staff at the home became concerned that he never had any money to buy clothes or for personal items and, in the end, bought clothes themselves for him from charity shops.

Despite staff contacting Harris repeatedly, he only paid a total of £230 into Mr Panter’s expenses account in nearly two years and visited his friend on only six occasions.

Miss White said that, in total, Harris stole £8,130, being caught on CCTV making 54 separate withdrawals from a cash machine.

When arrested Harris, who had debts, initially tried to suggest care home staff might have been responsible for some of the missing money.

Elizabeth Dudley-Jones, defending, said Mr Panter and Harris had shared resources and a loose financial arrangement for more than 13 years.

“This sad state of affairs did not start off as theft — it developed into greed,” she said, adding that Harris was lonely and with few friends.

She added that Harris pleaded guilty to the theft on the day his trial was due to start after seeing a video of his friend making a statement.

“Out of sheer guilt and out of feelings of a long term friendship he changed his plea,” she said.

As well as the suspended jail term Judge Elliot Knopf ordered Harris to pay £4,000 compensation and to carry out 120 hours unpaid work.