A WOMAN has told the jury in the trial of a councillor accused of stealing £154,000 from an OAP that she was “horrified” by her sister-in-law’s “pauper’s funeral”.

Audrey Pagett said she was “amazed” that accused John Morgan, 75, of Highclere Gardens, Wantage, had not organised a proper funeral for his friend Beryl Gittens, who died in January last year aged 92 after a battle with dementia.

He denies stealing the money which prosecutors allege Morgan – who held power of attorney for Mrs Gittens – spent on gambling, including a trip to Las Vegas.

Prosecutor Michael Roques said this meant she had a “pauper’s funeral” paid for by West Berkshire Council.

Mrs Pagett – who married Mrs Gittens’ brother Reginald – said six relatives attended the five-minute funeral and there were no hymns or vicar and a “cheap” coffin.

She said: “I was horrified because it was an empty crematorium.”

She told Oxford Crown Court her sister-in-law had said Morgan “was wonderful, he was a very good friend and he did absolutely everything for her”.

Mrs Pagett added: “She never appeared to have a problem with money.”

She said at Oxford Crown Court yesterday that the service led her to probe Mrs Gittens’ finances. She then took her findings to the police.

Jurors heard Mrs Gittens bought a bungalow and later a flat in Newbury after selling her pub, The New Inn in Hermitage, Berkshire, in 1996. She had previously run the pub with her late husband Bill.

Mr Morgan got power of attorney with her only child, Roger Gittens, in 2004.

The flat was later sold after she went to stay in a nursing home.

Mr Gittens, 71, who lives in Australia, gave evidence via video link from there. He said he was “very surprised” by the funeral as she “had a lot of money”.

She was “very secretive” with her money but Mr Gittens said he did not challenge Morgan as he had “no qualms” about him. He later gave full power of attorney to Morgan.

The prosecution says the defence will claim Mrs Gittens told Morgan – who she got to know at the pub – to spend her money so none of it would go to the Pagetts in the year before her death.

Elizabeth McCarthy, manager of the Hungerford Care Home, where Mrs Gittens moved in 2011, told police Morgan was a “lovely man, very attentive” who frequently visited Mrs Gittens.

But when he visited the home after her death the witness told jurors: “He was more worried about the fact that he would be expected to pay for the funeral.” He told her there “was no money left”.

Morgan – a member of Vale of White Horse District Council – denies one charge of theft between March 2005 and January 2012.

The trial continues.