'Mum stole £50k left to her daughters in their late gran's will'

A MOTHER fleeced her two daughters out of a £50,000 inheritance left to them by their beloved grandmother, a court was told.

- Robert Kellaway

Katherine Hill, 53, and her father Gerald, 93, allegedly staged a "blatant and brazen" fraud by emptying the account in just over a year.

The £50,000 bequest had been left for Gemma and Jessica Thomas by their grandmother Margaret, on the proviso that they could access it when they were 25.

Prosecutor James Hartson told Swansea Crown Court Margaret died in 2013 and the money for her grandchildren was in a trust managed partly by their mother.

But he said despite being advised not to, Katherine Hill later put the money into an instant access account, for which she and her father held cards.

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Within 12 months of it being opened, most of the £50,000 had been removed through cash withdrawals, the jury was told.