A carer jailed for stealing precious jewellery from elderly dementia sufferers has walked free from prison after having her sentence slashed.

Senior judges at the Court of Appeal overturned Sita Tamang's original two-year jail term, which had been imposed at Canterbury Crown Court last month.

The 33-year-old, who attended the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice via remote link from Bronzefield Prison in Middlesex, was told her sentence would not only be suspended but also reduced.

The decision means the mum and former teacher from Nepal instead now has a 10-month prison sentence hanging over her head for 12 months.

Tamang, of Buffs Road, Canterbury, had wept in the dock when she learned her original punishment on December 15.

She was jailed after admitting targeting vulnerable people with dementia during night shifts at the city’s Highland House Care Home.

The judge, Recorder Matthew McDonagh, said that notwithstanding all he had heard and read about her, including her previous good character, guilty plea and genuine remorse, he saw "no reason" to spare her from being locked up immediately.

He also refused a subsequent request by her barrister John FitzGerald that she be granted bail pending an appeal.

Tamang therefore spent five weeks behind bars until her successful hearing in London on January 19.

Mr FitzGerald, who also represented her at that appeal, had previously described Tamang of being "petrified" at the prospect of going to prison.

The court heard the carer had stolen two wedding rings, an engagement ring and a necklace from her three vulnerable victims while working at Highland House in March last year.

All the jewellery was later recovered by police from a pawnbroker's in the city.

Tamang was immediately sacked by her employer and later pleaded guilty to four offences of theft.

Mr FitzGerald told the court the "kind and generous" mum had behaved wholly out of character at a time when she was struggling both personally and financially.

He had also urged the judge to impose a suspended sentence so that the impact on her husband and one-year-old son would be limited.

But on jailing Tamang, the daughter of a Second World War Gurkha, Recorder McDonagh said she had abused her "highly trusted role" and targeted the residents knowing their dementia reduced the likelihood of being caught.

He added the fact there were three victims was also "highly relevant" when considering the appropriate sentence for such criminality.