Well known cat woman Marlene Howes has told a court she did not declare an inheritance because it belonged to her mother's pedigree moggies.

The Lydney breeder, who has scores of Persian cats, is accused of illegally claiming £22,000 in State benefits.

But she says she did not believe she had to declare a large inheritance because the bequest belonged to the animals.

The 67-year-old of Parkhill, Whitecroft denies hiding the inheritance left by her mother Barbara Sutton so that she could continue claiming pension credits.

She insists her mother left her the money in trust for the benefit of her 14 Persian cats and several kittens and not for herself.

The cats had always had the best of everything and her mother wanted that to continue after her death, she told Stroud Magistrates Court.

"She wanted the money from the sale of her property to go to looking after her animals," Mrs Howes said.

"I agreed to take all her cats and take care of them on those conditions. She expressed it verbally to me but she did not put it in writing in her will."

Mrs Howes said she had adopted all her mother's cats and brought them to live with her own 25 Persian cats.

She told the court she had received £136,000 from the sale of her late mother's house in Cranbrook Road, Bristol in 2005. But almost half of that had to be given to the son of her mother's partner, Ronald Sutton, who was also a beneficiary.

She then opened her 'Cats Account' and paid in £50,000 but didn't tell the Department of Work and Pensions or Forest of Dean District council of the inheritance or her capital assets because she did not regard it as her own money, she told the court.

"It wasn't my money, it was the cats'," said Mrs Howes, who denies four charges of making false statements or concealing her true financial capital to obtain £22,000 in benefits between 2005 and October last year.

"It was in my name but it was for them."

She claimed that in 2005 somebody at the Forest Council told her she did not have to declare the money.

Asked by her solicitor Jon Holmes what the cost of keeping the cats was, she said "It was a lot of money. My mother always paid for the best food and so on. She would go daily to the supermarket or butcher and get them fresh food every day.

"At one time it was costing £180 a week – and then there's cat litter on top of that."

She also paid 'horrendous' vets' bills which amounted to around £30,000 in seven years, she said.

Mr Holmes told her: "What is being said is that you knew full well that you should have declared the inheritance to the Department of Work and Pensions and by not doing so you were being dishonest?"

She replied "I didn't regard it as my money at all. It was left by my mother specifically for the keeping of the animals. Everyone knows she absolutely adored those animals.

"I realise that it is me who is named on her will but I never gave that a thought, I just thought a dead person's wishes should be carried out.

"I was executor and trustee of my mother's estate and I regarded myself as carrying out her instructions."

Cross-examined by prosecutor Tim Burrows she agreed that she had been selling pedigree Persian kittens but said the money went back into paying veterinary and care costs.

The trial was adjourned until October 9 so the full details of Mrs Howes' bank accounts can go before district judge Joti Bopa-Rai.