A SON stands accused of stealing £30,000 from his mother, which she had hidden in an attic.

Craig Manders allegedly replaced the bank notes with bundles of paper.

His mother, Shirley Manders, told Bristol Crown Court she had placed the cash in a safe in the attic of her parents' home in Argus Road, Bedminster.

When she went to take some money out, the contents felt funny and she tipped out a pile of bank note-sized white sheets of paper.

She said she was so traumatised her family called a doctor.

Her son Craig, 27, formerly of Cromhall near Yate but now living in Pontyclun in Wales, denies theft of £30,000 between August and October 2008.

Mrs Manders said she had a mild falling out with her son when he took up with a new partner.

She told how she and her husband George, whose family has a connection with fairground folk, sold their 40ft showman's caravan to a multi-millionaire in November, 2007.

The court heard the buyer, Kevin Tomlinson, viewed the mobile home and paid Mrs Manders £10,000 before returning with the £20,000 balance and collecting it.

She said: "I put the £10,000 in a cornflakes box, with cornflakes in the box.

"It stayed there until he came down with the rest of the money and took the caravan away."

Mr Manders told how she then took the £30,000 and put it in a lockable safe in her parents' attic.

She said, though, that when she went to get £1,000, with a view to buying a new caravan, she found the money had gone.

She told the court: "I put my hand in the safe and it felt all funny.

"I started to shake. I took the bag out and there was all this paper, cut up.

"I was, sort of like, traumatised for a moment.

"I said to my brother 'It's gone Joe'.

"He said 'no'.

"I tipped all the paper out and with that I collapsed."

Mrs Manders said only her parents, two brothers, sister and two sons knew about the safe.

She said kind-hearted Mr Tomlinson sold her back her original home for £20,000, for which she took out a loan.

The court heard her son Craig had planned to emigrate to Florida but had returned home after living in the USA.

Julian Howells, prosecuting, said his fingerprints were found on the loft hatch, cardboard box around the safe and on some pieces of paper inside.

Craig Manders denies wrongdoing.

Mrs Manders' husband, George, told the jury his wife conducted the sale of their caravan and he saw a Nat West bank packet said to contain £30,000, which he asked her to count.

He confirmed that, later, he and his wife took out a £20,000 loan to buy their caravan back.

Mrs Manders' brother, Joseph Heal junior, said he never saw his sister's £30,000 but he helped her put a package into their parents' attic four days after his wedding in November 2007.

He told the jury that in October, 2008, he helped Mrs Manders into the loft and she said the contents of the safe didn't feel right.

He told the jury: "I got up the steps and lifted it down.

"The safe was on some boards, it was in a cardboard box. I lifted the safe down and I put it on the landing.

"She opened it and put her hand in and she said 'It's gone, it's gone!'

"I said 'What do you mean, it's gone?'. She pulled it out and I could see the back of the safe had been cut out.

"She was on the floor, collapsed in hysterics.

It was paper just cut up into, like, money. There was quite a lot of it."

The case continues.