THE punishment dished out to a High Valleyfield woman who stole from her blind and disabled mother-in-law has been described as a “slap in the face” by the pensioner’s daughter.

Alison Anderson fears her 84-year-old mum, Hazel Goodall, will never see the £750 of compensation which Sheriff Craig McSherry ordered Mary Goodall to pay on Monday as her health had deteriorated so badly during the course of a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

On Monday, Mary Goodall, 58, of Dunimarle Street, was found guilty of stealing a quantity of cash belonging to Mrs Goodall between August 6, 2014 and December 19, 2016.

The court was told a figure could not be given for the money stolen but Mrs Anderson, of Torryburn, claims discussions with the bank puts this figure well into the thousands.

As well the compensation order, Goodall was also fined £750 but Mrs Anderson said the sentence had shattered her faith in the court system.

“Where is the justice in that?” she told the Press. 

“They pay it weekly and she gets it when it has all been paid as a one-off payment. My mum knows she won’t be here in three years. Her health had deteriorated gravely over the last 12 weeks. It has taken its toll on her, it really has.”

After undergoing operations as part of a battle with cancer in January and February and enduring radiotherapy between March and April, frail great-gran Hazel Goodall faced attending court for three days for the trial on May 28, June 14 and June 18 before having to return to return on Monday.

“The stress has been building up and she is not in a good place,” said Mrs Anderson. “The whole year has caught up with her and she is really quite ill now.

“There has been no justice at all for us as a family. I put all my faith in legal justice and that was the biggest slap in the face yesterday.”

Mrs Anderson said the theft had devastated her mum and left her heartbroken.

“When I took my mum to the bank, they said there had been major movement in her account. She was in total shock.

"When we went, her pension money had gone in the day before but they said there was only £70 left and the gas and electricity bills due out. She didn’t even leave her with enough for her to pay her gas and electricity,” she added.

“She is so hurt. When my mum found out what they had done, she was on her hands and knees being sick and all she kept saying was I was so good to them, they didn’t have to steal.

“My mum would have given them the money. She didn’t have to steal. My mum was so kind to them. She paid my sister-in-law £100 a week for looking after her.”