THE JURY in the trial of three women carers, accused of plotting to milk a wealthy widow by grotesquely inflating the cost of looking after her, will continue to consider its verdicts tomorrow.
The jury at Bradford Crown Court retired to begin its deliberations this afternoon but was sent home by Judge Colin Burn after little more than an hour.
Wendy Bell, 57, of Greenside Lane, Cullingworth; her daughter, Lisa Bell, 30, also of Greenside Lane; and Helen Banks, 42, of Howbeck Avenue, Riddlesden, have all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to defraud Audrey Hammond, now 92, between February 14, 2010, and September 25, 2012. Wendy Bell also denies two further fraud allegations.
Prosecutor Stephen Wood has told the jury the defendants, and others, to a greater or lesser extent, had breached the trust in them to milk the widow, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, and lived at Ings House, Cracoe, near Skipton, of more than £500,000.
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