A WEALTHY widow forked out up to £40,000 a month for home care because she was determined to stay in the house she had lived in for decades, a jury heard.

Audrey Hammond insisted on remaining at Ings House in Cracoe, near Skipton, although it was cheaper to go into a nursing home or seek alternative forms of care, her family solicitor told Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Myron Handzij, of Turner and Wall Solicitors in Keighley, who has power of attorney for Mrs Hammond, said he thought the care bill excessive but it was not his role to overrule Mrs Hammond's wishes.

Mr Handzij was giving evidence in the trial of three women who deny plotting to milk Mrs Hammond by grotesquely inflating the cost of looking after her.

Wendy Bell, 57, of Greenside Lane, Cullingworth; her daughter, Lisa Bell, 30, also of Greenside Lane; and Helen Banks, 42, of Howbeck Avenue, Riddlesden, are accused of conspiracy to defraud Mrs Hammond, between February 14, 2010, and September 25, 2012.

Amanda Carroll, 44, of Park Avenue, Shipley; Linda Mynott, 60, of Garforth Road, Keighley; Caron Gilbert, 33, of Red Holt Crescent, Keighley, and Alice Barker, 59, of Raglan Avenue, Keighley, have admitted the offence.

Prosecutor Stephen Wood has told the court Mrs Hammond, 92, was fleeced out of more than £500,000 by a greedy and dishonest group of carers.

She suffered from Parkinson's disease and had given power of attorney to Mr Handzij in 2003.

He said his firm had been employed by Mrs Hammond, and her late husband, for up to 50 years.

Mr Handzij said Wendy Bell and Amanda Carroll were already caring for Mrs Hammond when he began signing cheques for her because her illness had progressed.

"She was quite a forceful lady and knew her own mind and stated her own preferences," he said.

Asked by Mr Wood if he had any reservations about the way the care scheme operated, Mr Handzij told the jury: "I said 'that's a lot' quite a lot of times."

He said he raised the matter of the care cost with Mrs Hammond and she was always content to leave things as they were.

"I know it sounds incredible but Mrs Hammond was a very wealthy woman and her repeated insistence was that she wanted to remain at home at Ings House," Mr Handzij said.

During his regular visits to see her, he took a running schedule of expenses, including how much was being spent on her care.

"She asked 'Can I afford this?' and I would say 'Yes, you can but this is very expensive and it would be cheaper to go into residential care or source alternative care provision'," he told the court.

Mr Handzij said he saw no evidence of undue influence or duress.

Mrs Hammond was housebound and isolated and had a close relationship with Wendy Bell and Amanda Carroll.

The trial continues.