Elizabeth Barker, 19, of Sissons Road, Middleton, appeared on the front page of the Observer and Advertiser in January as part of a campaign to save the Eastleigh complex in Tingley.

But weeks later Barker was caught on camera repeatedly stealing from an 87-year-old woman in Eastleigh Court, a crime condemned as ‘vile and wicked’ by a judge at Leeds Crown Court.

Sentencing the teenager to 16 months in a young offenders’ institution, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC, sitting at Leeds Crown Court, said: “It was a vile and wicked thing to do, to target a vulnerable victim in this way.”

The court heard that Barker was Eliza Broadhead’s window cleaner and had won her trust.

She stole cash from her widowed victim’s OAP bungalow three times in March.

That was just two months after Barker had taken part in the community campaign to save the neighbouring Eastleigh sheltered housing complex from closure.

Barker was caught out by covert CCTV installed in the flat by police on the request Mrs Broadhead’s daughter Sheila Cree. Mrs Cree became suspicious after money went missing from her mum’s purse.

After the sentencing hearing, Mrs Cree, 59, of Morley, said: “Barker didn't get jailed for long enough as far as I’m concerned.

“It’s outrageous that an old lady who worked all her life should be targeted in this way. My mum worked as a canteen manageress at Lofthouse Pit when the disaster happened and later as a cleaner.

“It hurts because she is so generous and never complains. To take advantage of someone like that is despicable. If I hadn’t have been there, it could have carried on because my mum’s memory has gone and she would trust anyone.”

At a previous hearing Barker had pleaded guilty to three charges of burglary.

The court heard Barker had started using heroin two years ago after falling for a drug addict who was twice her age.

She was said to have ‘genuine remorse’ for her crimes.