A STOURBRIDGE businessman who raided his mother's bank account for £65,000 after his plans to work with rock musician Rick Wakeman collapsed has been given the chance to avoid jail.

Andrew Dingley was one of two directors running Base Video Productions Ltd in Stourbridge and he had power of attorney over his mother's finances after the sudden death of his father.

The firm had invested a great deal of money in the proposed project with the musician but he then withdrew leaving the defendant out of pocket, said Paul Spratt, prosecuting.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Dingley then started using his mother's money as his own and the fraud came to light as she was found to be in debt to the care home where she was living.

Dingley's brother then asked him what had happened.

Mr Spratt said: "His mother is still at the care home with her fees now being paid by the local authority with the family having to pay £200 a month top up split between the two brothers."

Dingley, of Westminster Road, Malvern, admitted fraud by abuse of position and Judge Simon Ward told him he would defer sentence in the case until December.

Mr Spratt told the court the property where Dingley's parents lived in Walsall was sold for £95,000 and that, added to an ISA account and other savings, would have been enough to cover her care home fees.

Jennifer Josephs, defending, said 52-year-old Dingley got "carried away" and he was left with money problems when Rick Wakeman pulled out of the project.