A WOMAN who stole £50,000 of inheritance from her mother has walked free from court, but has been slammed for her lack of remorse.

Maxine Forster, 51, was given power of attorney alongside her sister, Gillian Sayer, over the considerable fortune of their mother, Betty Forster, when she began to suffer from dementia.

But for six years from November 2006 to December 2012, Forster took money from her mother's account and left her third sister, Elaine Welch, with little inheritance.

Elaine Welch died in January 2015 leaving her husband, Alan Welch to fight for what he knew was truly theirs.

On Thursday, after Forster was given a suspended sentence, Mr Welch slammed her for her lack of remorse.

York Press:

Alan Welch

He said: "Obviously I have no way of proving that this contributed to the fact that Elaine's cancer came back.

"But I don't believe the added stress will have helped our situation."

Prosecuting, Michael Cahill told the court that there had been a deterioration of the relationship between Forster, from York, and her sister, Mrs Welch.

He said: "Following the death of Betty Forster in 2012, it became apparent that Betty's estate had diminished to £18,000.

"This was quite a surprise as there had been a payment to it of £200,000."

However, Bradford Crown Court heard that Betty Forster had not wanted for anything and that instead the money had gone on life's "ordinary pleasures".

York Press:

Elaine Welch, who died before her sister's offences reached court

Defending, Nick Barker told the court that this was a "difficult family situation".

He said: "Maxine Forster was facing pressures at the time of 2006 when this course of offending begun.

"She had lost a child and she had to deal with her mother's increasing dementia.

"She was the sole pastoral carer to her mother as her two sisters lived down south."

The court heard Forster had been able to save £27,000 out of the total taken, which was to be paid to Mr Welch immediately.

Judge Bartfield sentenced Forster to eight months in prison but suspended it for a year.

He told Forster: "The sentence will be passed without my knowing the final outcome, whether you are going to pay the £27,000.

"This sentence will change should I find you misled me and I am somewhat nervous that you might have done."

Judge Bartfield added: "Over the course of six years you took £50,000 from the account that didn't belong to you.

"You didn't do it all in one sum, it was for the kind of things that families spend money on.

"They were life's ordinary pleasures.

"The problem was Alan Welch had an entitlement so he lost out to the some of around £50,000.

"It took a very long time for you to admit this."

Mr Welch said he was sceptical he would receive the £27,000 promised by Forster.

He said: "People will think that all I'm after is the money but I was raised in a time when you did the right thing.

"The only thing Maxine can do is to pay the money back and she has failed miserably.

"I was promised £50,000 six months ago and she has failed to get that. But I will persist if I don't receive it and I will continue to fight for the whole amount she had taken."

Speaking of the moment that both he and his wife realised there was barely any money left in Mrs Forster's estate, Mr Welch said they were both "totally shocked".

He said: "When Maxine was given power of attorney, Elaine and I thought nothing of it.

"We thought she would need access to Betty's account to pay for her care bills. So when we realised there was nothing left, we were both totally shocked."

He added: "When we discovered there was just £13,000 left in Betty's account, as two executors of Betty's will, Maxine's husband, Andrew, told me it was now our responsibility to divide that up between the three girls.

"I knew at that point something serious had happened."

Mr Welch added: "We have never received any explanation of what happened. We were never given a reason as to why it happened or where the money had gone.

"We first voiced our concerns in 2009 and since then we have had no contact at all.

"Maxine has never shown any remorse."

Despite his persistence in receiving the money that is due to his family, Mr Welch, from Devon, is determined not to let it consume him.

He said: "I am proud of being able to bring this to court because to do so was the right thing to do.

"But I won't let it consume me.

"I've lost a wife and there are other things that are more important."