A disgraced solicitor who cheated his elderly mother out of money needed to fund her care deserves every day of his two-year prison sentence, top judges have ruled.

Nicholas Charles Cockcroft, 59, of Crofton, near Marlborough, was jailed at Swindon Crown Court in February after being convicted of fraud.

The victim was his mother, Joan Cockroft, who was 87 at the time, disabled and believed to be suffering from dementia.

She was resident in a care home, London's Criminal Court of Appeal heard.

Lady Justice Macur told the court how Cockroft placed his mother in the home for respite care in the summer of 2010 but she ended up staying there.

Her property was being sold to fund the costs of her care and her son had lasting power of attorney over her finances.

Even after the house was sold, yielding £182,500, an outstanding sum of £50,000 was owed to the care home.

Cockroft said he had invested the money in business ventures and he was waiting for a return which would allow him to pay the bill.

When arrested, he said that, when his mother was 'lucid', she had agreed that he could use the funds from the house sale. He insisted that he would then repay her.

His barrister, Richard Elliott, argued the sentence was too tough and should have been suspended.

As a 'qualified solicitor', Lady Justice Macur said he knew he was 'bound by law', and morally, to safeguard his mother's assets for 'her needs and not for his own'.

"We consider that this sentence should properly reflect not merely punishment and rehabilitation but also a possible deterrence for others who may, in a similar position, consider a relative lacking capacity could be defrauded of money that should be dedicated to their care," said the judge.

Lady Justice Macur, sitting with Mr Justice Wyn Williams and Mr Justice Leggatt, said the sentence was 'not manifestly excessive' and there was 'no merit' in Cockcroft's appeal.