A COUNSELLOR has denied that he was responsible for the "disappearance" of thousands of pounds from his client's bank accounts.

Peter Michael Powers, 50, also denied using Age Concern to "legitimise" his relationship with Betsy Finley, then 84.

He told a jury at York Crown Court that he withdrew nearly £24,000 from her bank accounts on her instructions.

Of some of the money he said: "I certainly didn't go around stealing or spending it on myself. It was her choice, her money. She did with it what she wished."

He did not know where large parts of the money had gone or why Mrs Finley's credit card paid an Internet bill in U.S. dollars.

In cross-examination, he said he emailed his brother in the USA and that he paid £1,600 for hypnotherapy courses with cash he had earned from part-time jobs.

Powers, of Sycamore Place, New Earswick, denies a charge of theft.

Giving evidence in his own defence, the former CRUSE bereavement counsellor said the charity sent him to Mrs Finley when her husband, Raymond, died.

After an hour with her, he decided counselling was not appropriate, but he arranged her husband's funeral with CRUSE's knowledge.

He then continued to see her regularly on his own behalf because, he said, they had formed a good relationship and he asked Age Concern to make him their "befriender" for Mrs Finley.

He denied prosecution suggestions that he did so to legitimise his visits.

Mrs Finley asked him to withdraw her money so she could see it and she kept it in her house, he alleged.

He agreed that he wrote out a cheque to himself for £1,000 on one of her accounts, but claimed she wanted him to have the money.

"She trusted you and you abused that trust," said prosecution counsel Tom Storey.

"I did not abuse her trust," replied Powers.

Earlier he had told his barrister Paul Williams that he had acted honourably in all his dealings with Mrs Finley and he denied prosecution evidence that he protested his innocence too much at a meeting with a social worker.

The trial continues.

Updated: 11:11 Wednesday, March 06, 2002