A BEREAVEMENT counsellor swindled a frail and elderly widow out of £20,000 when he was supposed to be befriending her after her husband's death, a court heard.

Peter Michael Powers regularly siphoned the £250 cashpoint maximum from Betsy Finley's account.

Powers, who admitted stealing between £22,000 and £23,000 from Mrs Finley, who was in her seventies, was jailed for two years.

Tom Storey, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court how Powers had been assigned by the charity CRUSE to counsel Mrs Finley after her husband, Raymond, died in October 1998.

The charity believed Powers, of Sycamore Place, New Earswick, York, had no further contact with Mrs Finley, who died in July last year, after October 27, 1998.

But in reality he had contacted Age Concern, asking to be assigned to Mrs Finley.

He became her "befriender" in November 1998 after completing Age Concern's training programme.

The thefts began shortly afterwards, and between November 1998 and February 1999 he reduced a bank account containing nearly £10,000 to less than £4.

In April 1999, Mrs Finley arranged for over £14,000 to be raised after gaining equity on her home, Mr Storey said.

As soon as the cheque had cleared, the withdrawals began, and the money was cleared out between December 1999 and January 2000.

The court heard how Powers was trapped after Mrs Finley's finances were checked by her niece, Diana Hodgson, and social worker Diana Beadle, when they were considering finding a care home place for her. Their suspicions were raised, police were called and Powers was arrested in September 2000.

Paul Williams, for Powers, said his client accepted responsibility.

"He suffers from problems with alcohol and a depressive illness since 1996. "Perhaps that goes some way to explain why he did this," Mr Williams said.

Jailing Powers for two years, Judge Paul Hoffman, the Honorary Recorder of York, said: "I am prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt that your prime motive was to assist (Mrs Finley). But you quickly realised she had money, and fastened on to her like a leech, systematically raiding her accounts."

Brian Ward, Administrator of York CRUSE, said: "CRUSE York Branch has been counselling bereaved people in York and district for 23 years and has never before had an incident like this. It deeply regrets its former counsellor's serious breach of trust and theft, and sincerely apologises to Mrs Hodgson (Mrs Finley's niece) and her family."

The branch's work would not be affected, Mr Ward added.

James Player, of Age Concern, said: "Mr Powers has been found guilty of a serious offence, but we are determined this does not undermine the many years of hard work done by hundreds of dedicated and caring volunteers for Age Concern York.

"Hopefully, the fact Mr Powers was caught and subsequently prosecuted should act as a deterrent to any others who might seek to abuse a position of trust."

Powers had originally denied the offences, and a trial began in March this year, but the case collapsed when a document that should have been kept from jurors was inadvertently handed to them.

Updated: 11:39 Thursday, September 12, 2002