A gambling addict who plundered his dementia-ridden dad’s finances has been ordered to hand tens of thousands to his sons and brother.

Paul Keen held lasting power of attorney over his father’s accounts but blew the lot leaving the old man overdrawn when he died.

As a result the victim’s will, in which he intended to leave £5,000 to each of his grandchildren with the rest split between his sons, could not be fulfilled.

Now a judge has ordered the 55-year-old to hand over the contents of his own pension saved up over his working life in an order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Keen, of Burden Close in Stratton, benefitted from his offending to the tune of £80,161, Swindon Crown Court was told.

James Tucker, prosecuting, said he only had £48,451 in available assets which was being held by Prudential, his pension provider, in a fund.

That means the defendant’s sons will now each get the £5,000 left to the them by their grandfather, with the rest going to their uncle.

Judge Robert Pawson said he had six weeks to hand over the money or face a nine-month sentence in default to be added to the two years and eight months he is already serving.

And should he come into money in the future it will still be open to the authorities to pursue him for the outstanding sum, which is in excess of £30,000.

Keen was jailed in July last year after he admitted fraud between March 2015 and the end of August 2016.

He had taken control of his ailing father’s bank accounts when he moved into a care home towards the end of his life.

But over the 17 month period he cashed in his ISAs and pocketed much of his pension.

And although he went to the police himself to report what he had done it was only when there was nothing left for him to steal.

Keen told the court he was full of shame, had a long-standing gambling problem which led to his family putting him in rehab in 2010. As a result of what he had done his 34-year marriage had collapsed and one of his sons was now not talking to him, the court was told last year.