A PENSIONER was forced to sell her home to pay the debts her son had built up after he swindled her out of tens of thousands of pounds and left her 'penniless', a court heard.

Prosecutors claim that Adrian Mackenzie, of Rosedale Avenue, Banbury, blew the money from his mother's bank account and credit cards on a lavish lifestyle including shopping sprees at Bicester Village, an 'executive' car and trips abroad.

The 46-year old denies four counts of fraud by false representation and fleecing his alleged victim Jacqueline Mackenzie out of a total of £57,256.15.

Outlining the case at the start of the trial at Oxford Crown Court yesterday prosecutor Henry James told jurors that Mackenzie had siphoned the funds or used numerous card payments from the woman's Barclays, Tesco and M&S bank cards as well as her current account.

The multiple instances of fraud, he told the court, date from March 1 2013 until the allegations were reported to police after April 2016.

Mr James said: "This case involves the abuse by this defendant of his mother's credit cards, bank cards and bank accounts.

"By the time he had finished with her she was about £50,000 down and found herself, in her 70's, having to sell her house in order to meet her debts, in which he had forced her into.

"By incremental degrees her son fleeced her of what he could take from her. This is industrial abuse of a family relationship and a nasty, unpleasant fraud."

The court heard that Mackenzie first started taking his mother's money when he agreed to get her a new, more affordable, car to use.

Months after the purchase of the car he rang his mother and told her the car had not in fact been paid for, jurors were told, and she gave him her card details including her PIN code. Prosecutors said that it was this error that led to the abuse of her accounts as they all used the same PIN number.

Jurors heard that bank statements showed that Mackenzie had then gone on to use his mother's money from the cards for regular shops at Tesco as well as a monthly £90 Sky subscription and spending sprees at designer outlets at Bicester Village.

He also, the court heard, used the money to pay for an executive Mercedes Benz vehicle as well as holidays abroad.

None of the transactions were approved by his alleged victim, jurors were told.

Taking to the witness box Jacqueline Mackenzie, who lives near Bicester, told jurors she didn't have the internet at home or knew how to use online banking, where the transactions were made.

She said: "I think once I realised I was penniless because he had taken all my money we [with her daughter] got bank statements back from five years.

"It was only when my bank account was completely emptied that I realised my statements were not coming through. Obviously it had been set up online and I was never shown how to use it or what was going on."

The trial continues.