A church-going mother and son swindled more than £2,500 from their 86-year-old fellow parishioner in a crime labelled “despicable” by a judge.

Elizabeth Barnes and Thomas Harrison filled in cheques which they knew had been stolen from Hilda Silvers, who they worshipped alongside and enjoyed cups of tea with at All Saints Church in Bloxwich every week.

Despite having a £120-a-day heroin and crack cocaine addiction, Harrison still attended church every Sunday and sang in the choir. His mother, aged 62, had known Mrs Silvers, who has since died, for more than 40 years.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, Harrison, of Lower North Street, Walsall, was jailed for 12 months. Barnes, of Parker Street, Bloxwich, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for a year, and 150 hours unpaid work.

The court heard how 28-year-old Harrison had bought some cheques from another drug addict outside Walsall Job Centre for £50.

The cheques, which were blank but had been signed by Mrs Silvers and had her name printed on them, were then used to pay off bills and pay amounts into Barnes’s HSBC bank account in the summer of 2007.

The pair both denied realising the cheques belonged to Mrs Silvers, formerly of Lower Farm, Bloxwich.

Harrison, who has a nine-year-old son and is already in prison for shoplifting to feed his habit, had previously pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods. Barnes, a part-time cleaner in her local Post Office and pub, had previously pleaded guilty to fraud.

Mrs Hugh O’Brien Quinn, prosecuting, said Mrs Silvers had been reimbursed by her bank before she died.

Miss Wendy Miller, defending Barnes, said she had felt the financial pressures of her son’s drug addiction. Miss Samantha Powis, for Harrison, said he was “ext- remely remorseful” for his actions.

Judge Warner said: “If you were younger Mrs Barnes, I would have no hesitation whatsoever in sending you away.”