A WOMAN who embezzled thousands of pounds from her elderly mother-in-law has been ordered by a court to pay nearly �30,000.

Beverley Buck, of St Osyth Close, Ipswich, was jailed for 18 months at Ipswich Crown Court earlier this year after being convicted of fraud by abuse of position.

The 60-year-old was accused of using her power of attorney for 91-year-old Enid Buck in order to siphon off nearly �15,000 from her bank accounts.

Although the pensioner died in June 2011, DVDs of police interviews with her in December 2010 and April 2011 were shown to the jury during her daughter-in-law’s trial.

Beverley Buck took the money between April 24, 2009 and June 30, 2011, spending it on holidays, Christmas shopping, jewellery, car insurance, council tax, mortgage payments and other expenditure.

At Buck’s sentencing, Judge John Devaux described Enid Buck as “vulnerable” and said her daughter-in-law had “systematically milked her accounts”.

The fraud was discovered after Enid Buck made complaints to workers at Peppercorn Lodge, Ipswich, where she lived, following an argument with her daughter-in-law.

At a hearing at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday Buck was ordered to pay a �14,699 confiscation order as well as a �14,699 compensation order making a total of �29,399.