A MOTHER has been accused alongside her son and daughter of stealing thousands of pounds worth of gas from the mains over more than ten years.

Lynn Smith, 53, Lisa Walton, 34, and Jonathon Wright, 33, appeared at Consett Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (December 22), following an inspection carried out by Northern Gas Network engineers on a house in Burnhope earlier this year.

Smith, of The Organics, Holmeside Lane, Burnhope, pleaded not guilty to stealing gas to a value of £6,848 belonging to Northern Gas Networks, between November 2001 and February 2015.

She also pleaded not guilty to the illegal abstraction or use of electricity of a value unknown between the same dates.

Walton, of Vale View, Burnhope, pleaded not guilty to the same two charges.

Wright, of Woodland Park Bungalow, Holmeside Lane, Burnhope, pleaded not guilty to the theft of gas worth £8,000 belonging to Northern Gas Networks between February 6 and March 10 this year.

He also denied the theft of mains gas between November 2001 and February 2015.

The court was told the charges related to Woodland Park Bungalow.

The case was committed to Durham Crown Court for trial, with a preliminary hearing set for Tuesday, January 5.

All three were granted conditional bail.