A BENCH warrant was issued today (Tuesday, February 4) for the arrest of a woman accused of stealing charity money, some raised in memory of her late son.

It follows Catharine (CORRECT) Heather Airey’s second failure to appear at Durham Crown Court in recent weeks.

Mrs Airey, 55, is facing trial having denied eight counts of fraud at a plea hearing in November.

The charges relate to money raised at charity functions, several in aid of the Great North Air Ambulance, which she is alleged to have failed to pass on to the intended causes.

Several of the events were staged in memory of her son Justin, from Spennymoor, who died, aged 17, after he was involved in a collision with a car, while riding his motorcycle in Burnhope, near Stanley, in October 2005.

Mrs Airey denies having received the money, which the prosecution alleges she has been given by people who ran some of the events.

The trial was to have started today (February 4), but as two existing hearings at the court have over-run, a new start date of July 14 was agreed, in her absence.

Mrs Airey, of Rossmere, Spennymoor, was brought before the court on January 28, after execution of a previous bench warrant, issued after she failed to appear for a pre-trial hearing on January 24.

She was bailed to appear at the court today.

But, Judge Christopher Prince issued another bench warrant after her counsel, Paul Abrahams, could offer no explanation for her absence, when the case was called on at the court for re-listing today.