Cathy Bartlett drugged her sister before setting fire to her house in an attempt to cover up stealing nearly £140,000

A woman has been jailed for 25 years after trying to burn her sister alive to cover up the theft of almost £140,000 from her family.

Cathy Bartlett, 30, gave her older sister, Rachael, sleeping tablets and alcohol before setting fire to her house.

She doused the stairs with petrol in an attempt to cut off her sister’s escape route but Rachael woke up, crawled out on to the roof and jumped on to the patio below to save herself.

Bartlett, from Fawley, Hampshire, used the money she stole to fund a lavish lifestyle, including buying gifts for friends and treating them to tickets for sporting events, Winchester crown court heard.

Jailing Bartlett for attempted murder, 10 counts of fraud and one of theft, the judge, Jane Miller QC, told her: “Quite frankly you are evil. You accepted in your evidence your behaviour was cunning, calculating and devious. You were completely ruthless, you took as much as you possibly could from your sister and father.”

The court heard that the sisters’ parents cut off ties with Rachael because they blamed her for supporting Bartlett’s prosecution. Miller told her: “I feel very sorry for your parents in their awful situation. They have been supporting the wrong daughter, it’s Rachael that deserves their compassion and not you. I hope they will regret their behaviour towards Rachael and she has the generosity to forgive them.”

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Rachael Bartlett described how her sister’s actions had left her with post-traumatic stress disorder and ripped their family apart.

She said: “The first two words that come to mind are heartbroken and devastated. Cathy was not only my sister but my best friend, someone I trusted and relied on. What she has done has ripped our family apart and has had a huge effect on all of us.

“I thought I trusted her and to find out our relationship was based on lies is devastating. The fact that she was then prepared to kill me to cover up her actions is so disturbing I still haven’t been able to come to terms with it.”

She added: “This has resulted in terrible nightmares, trouble sleeping and panic attacks. I love my sister and I always thought she loved me back. All of this has come as a great shock to me, I feel the sheer magnitude of the effect on me cannot be put into words. I think Cathy needs help and I hope she gets the help she needs.”

The trial was told that Rachael, 34, offered her sister the job of financial manager at the company she had set up in 2014. The defendant went on to take almost £140,000 from her sister and her father. When she feared Rachael was going to expose her, Bartlett plotted to kill her.

Outside court, Kate Lewis, senior prosecutor, said Bartlett was living a “fantasy of grandeur” by using money stolen to live a life of luxury. She said: “Cathy Bartlett’s greed and her fantasy of grandeur pushed her to coldly plan the murder of her own sister to prevent her being exposed for what she really was, a fraud and a thief.

“She took extreme and unimaginable measures to hide the extent of her dishonesty towards her sister by trying to kill her. She created a fantasy in which she played the role of a businesswoman with a lot of money and contacts. She was maintaining the illusion by buying people expensive gifts and spent about £20,000 on hospitality tickets at Southampton football club that she then gave away with the aim of buying friends.”

The arson attack on the house in Bartley, New Forest, took place on 7 April.