A PUB landlady has denied allegations that she stole around £17,000 from her business partner's bank account while he was recovering from his alcohol addiction.

Heather Davies, 44, of Highfield Road, Pontllanfraith, and the former licensee of Porters public house in Blackwood has been accused of forging cheques for sums up to £10,300 in Jonathan Smith's name as well as using his debit card to make payments and withdraw over £1,000 in cash.

Among the suspect transactions is a cheque for £5,544.70 to cover her daughter's boarding school fees.

Davies gave evidence yesterday, denying the two counts of forgery, four counts of obtaining monetary transfer by deception and four counts of theft.

She said Mr Smith became her first boyfriend when she was just 17, but they had gone their separate ways after 18 months together.

They met again just over three years ago and became friends, deciding to go into business together at Blackwood's Porter's pub in January 2006.

When Mr Smith went into rehabilitation in summer 2006, he handed Davies his chequebook, debit card and pin number to use in emergencies and to manage his bills.

Davies told the jury Mr Smith did not have much money at this point and claimed to have paid some of his bills herself - including the cost of his rehabilitation treatment at Brynawel House, Llanharan.

Davies said they were "very close" friends, saying: "I did care for him and I didn't want him to be in that position."

The former landlady said she paid some of his credit card repayments, on one occasion using her savings to prevent him from being taken to court.

She claimed Mr Smith gave his permission for her to sign a cheque to cover her daughter's school fees from his Abbey National account as a partial repayment for the money she had lent him.

Davies said Mr Smith consented to all the other transactions, which covered his bills as well as some business matters and claimed Mr Smith had asked her to make the cash withdrawals in order to repay he owed.

Prosecuting, Sharon Bahia, asked Davies why she had not filled in most of the cheque stubs, leaving no record for Mr Smith.

Davies replied: "I just didn't."

Proceeding.