A JUDGE has told a man who stole almost £70,000 from his sick mother that he faces a prison sentence next month.

Steven Darvill, 56, is understood to have had debts of between £35,000 and £50,000, at the time he stole the money from Hazel Riley.

Mrs Riley, who lived in the Allerton area of Bradford, suffered from Alzheimer's and was unable to handle her own affairs. Her son is said to have drafted his own Power of Attorney which purported to give him full control of her finances.

Darvill, of Ashfield Road, Birstall, was originally accused of stealing just over £100,000 from his mother between January 2009 and March last year.

He denied theft when he appeared before Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court in September and a trial was due to get under way today.

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But before a jury was sworn in at Bradford Crown Court, he entered a guilty plea to the allegation on the basis that he had stolen just under £70,000.

Darvill's offending is understood to have come to light after a concerned neighbour of Mrs Riley's contacted social services because the pensioner did not seem to have any money and bailiffs were calling at her home.

Judge Jonathan Rose this morning told Darvill: "You have pleaded guilty to stealing just short of £70,000 from your mother during a period of time when she was suffering from Alzheimer's.

"She was therefore an exceptionally vulnerable person and your theft from her is a gross breach of trust."

Judge Rose said he was prepared to adjourn sentence on Darvill until Friday, May 29, for the preparation of a pre-sentence report by the probation service and to grant him bail in the meantime.

But Judge Rose stressed that the adjournment and the granting of bail was no indication as to the sentence Darvill would receive and he added:"The sentence will be a prison sentence.

"The report will only assist as to the length of that sentence."

It is understood that Darvill did not spend the money on a lavish lifestyle, but he told police that he had been living beyond his means.