A mean fraudster who helped herself to thousands from the savings of a pensioner she called “granny” has been freed by senior judges on appeal.

Jenna-Leigh Moore, 24, of Louis Avenue, Bury, was close to her 85-year-old victim who trusted her, London’s Appeal Court heard.

The old lady had known Moore since she was 13 and “looked on her as a grandmother”, said Mr Justice Goss.

Although she was recovering from cancer, she helped Moore out with gifts and cash loans.

And the court heard Moore was doing cleaning work for her when she siphoned off her nest egg.

The first the victim knew of the con was when she opened up her bank statements to discover she was in the red.

Never having been overdrawn before, she went to the police, who pinpointed Moore and her boyfriend as suspects.

Investigations revealed the pair had been using the pensioner's bank card to “systematically” plunder her account.

Over the space of a year, the couple took around £14,000 from the account, leaving their victim's finances seriously depleted.

Moore, 24, was locked up for 18 months at Bolton Crown Court last December after admitting fraud. Her boyfriend got the same sentence.

Aged 19 when she preyed on the pensioner, Moore's lawyers argued her sentence was far too tough.

They pointed to her youth, guilty plea and remorse.

Mr Justice Goss, sitting with two other judges, praised Moore’s “exemplary behaviour” behind bars.

Although she deserved to be locked up, it was now “appropriate to pass a suspended sentence”, he ruled.

Moore's jail term was replaced by a two-year suspended sentence, including rehabilitation requirements.