A new mum has been jailed after pocketing over 70,000 from the estates of deceased clients at the solicitors firm where she worked.

Lindsey Rafter used her position in the probate department at Murray Humpries solicitors in Seaham to hatch the cruel scam.

The 33-year-old covered her tracks by targeting clients with few or no survivng relatives and creating false wills to keep in the files at the firm.