A MAN who plundered more than half million pounds from his dementia-suffering gran, who was in her nineties, will have to pay back less than a quarter of one per cent of what he took.

Guy Houghton, 49, formerly of Milbourne, Malmesbury, abused his position of holding enduring lasting power of attorney to help himself to up to £650,000 of the sick old lady's savings.

As well as buying a house with the money Houghton also went on luxury holidays to Egypt and South Africa and moved to Spain and France.

But after seven years of siphoning off cash for houses, failed businesses and jet set holidays Houghton has 'blown the lot', Swindon Crown Court heard.

After ruling Houghton benefitted from crime by £600,000 a judge was told he had only £1,232 left in the bank.

Now the fraudster, who is serving a three-year, four-month jail term, has been given three months to sign over the money of face a further six month jail term.

Houghton appeared before the court for a Proceeds of Crime hearing by video link from Ranby prison, near Nottingham.

Tom Dunn, defending, told Judge Tim Mousley QC that his client was happy to hand over the money but the forms would have to be posted to him to sign.

Under the draconian order should Houghton come into money in the future it will be open to the authorities to chase him for the outstanding £598,768.

An earlier hearing was told how the defendant failed to pay care home fees for the ailing pensioner as he treated her life savings as his own.

As well as property deals, Houghton lost more of her cash on a variety of business ventures across Europe which all failed as he used up all of his granny's estate.

When Beatrice Houghton died in 2012, a few weeks short of her hundredth birthday, no one attended the funeral and a member of the clergy was not even arranged.

Mrs Houghton was in good health in 2005 when she moved in with her grandson, having been widowed a few years earlier and with sons living overseas.

After a while she moved to a nursing home and the power of attorney was taken out so the defendant could control her finances should the need arise.

As she started to suffer from dementia and she was moved to White Lodge care home in Braydon in December 2005.

When she died in March 2012 not only was there nothing left in her bank accounts: but there were £19,000 of fees outstanding to the home.

Concerns were first raised about the money in an email from the defendant's wife to his uncle in 2005.

It read 'Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but grandma bought us a house!!!' as they got a new home in Malmesbury two months after selling her old home for £559,000.

When bank statements were eventually gone through it was found he had been repeatedly plundering her assets.

Houghton, who gave the court an address in Folkestone, Kent, pleaded guilty to fraud.

Mr Dunn said things started to go wrong when he married his wife, who ended up an alcoholic drug addict, and he began to take the money.

He said he had been involved in a number of businesses including mobile phone retailing, mortgage brokering and web design.

Although money was withdrawn from the woman's account he said some was also paid in over the years but added, "However, he had eventually blown the lot."

He said: "He genuinely loved his grandmother and to be standing in front of the crown court to be sentence for disposing of her estate in the way he did is a cause of considerable shame."