A Leeds Crown Court judge has sentenced Mark Thompson from Pontefract in West Yorkshire to a 20-month jail sentence for stealing from ill, elderly mother to gamble.

The judge, recorder Richard Thyne KC, suspended the sentence for 18 months on Monday while adding 25 rehabilitation requirement days for the 53-year-old Thompson who is battling alcohol addiction.

According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Thompson’s mother gave her son her debit card to buy “essentials” after doctors admitted her to the hospital in March. In just three months of using his mom’s card to play gambling machines at a Betfred shop, Thompson had racked up ￡17,000 ($21,367) in charges.

At this stage, Thompson called the UK’s equivalent of 9-1-1 and turned himself in, admitting to stealing money from his mother, which was needed for her dementia care at a home. Betfred, however, has accepted liability, stating recovering a “large portion of the cash” Thompson fed into its machines was possible.

it would have been very distressing for her”

Recorder Thyne said that if Thompson’s dementia-suffering mother had been aware of Thompson actions, “it would have been very distressing for her.” The Post added the Leeds court report gave the impression that Thompson was “deeply regretful” and “ashamed” of his actions.