A 39 YEAR old woman branded a 'risk to public safety' has been jailed for 36 weeks by Skipton magistrates.

Adele Evans preyed on vulnerable, elderly people and refused to co operate with the various agencies that had tried to help her, the court heard.

Bench chairman Michael Jefferies told Evans they had never heard such a negative probation report and that they would be failing in their duty if they did not act and remove her from society.

"You are a very real threat to vulnerable people and we would be failing in our responsibilities if we let you go today," he said.

Evans was found guilty in her absence on November 8 by the Skipton court for taking a Landrover Freelander in April without the permission of its 81 year old owner and driving it to Bradford to see her partner, who had been at a family funeral.

She pleaded guilty to using the vehicle without insurance and to two separate charges of failing to attend court.

The court heard on the day she was supposed to be in court for her trial she had gone to the man's house in Skipton with another woman.

In a victim statement, the 81 year old retired farmer said Evans had asked for tin foil, which he believed was for drugs, and for whisky.

He told her she was in breach of her bail conditions and that the police would be looking for he, but she had appeared 'unbothered' and had sat in his living room 'grinning'.

Prosecuting, Martin Butterworth, said the man had become so anxious that he had been unable to give evidence at Evans' trial. His evidence was instead heard from his son, following a successful hearsay application.

The man's son, in a statement read out in court, described how his father had changed from an independent man well thought of in the farming community to someone who had moved house, was frightened to answer his door and who had suffered a mini stroke.

"She told him people she knew in Bradford would smash up his car and that her barrister would destroy him in court," he said.

He said his father had been given no peace and that on November 21, Evans had contacted him again to say that her boyfriend was getting out of prison soon and would 'sort him out'.

Magistrates jailed Evans, of Gisburn Road, West Marton, to a total of 36 weeks and told her she would serve half in prison and half on licence. The bench also agreed to a restraining order banning her from contacting or approaching her 81 year old victim in any way until further notice. She will also have to pay a surcharge of £115.