The daughter of a mentally ill widow ? from whom a Bermudian lawyer is accused of stealing more than $500,000 ? yesterday alleged that the accused had a romantic relationship with her younger sister.

Julian Ernest Sinclair Hall is being tried on five counts of stealing $551,044 from Betty Lorraine McMahon between 1995 and 1996.

Hall, a former MP and Shadow Minister of the Environment, was officially declared bankrupt and banned from practising law in January 2000.

In December 1997 he was ordered to pay Mrs. McMahon, $1.6 million plus seven percent interest. As legal proceedings dragged on, he was charged with stealing from the woman. He has denied those charges.

The case is being heard by Chief Justice Richard Ground and prosecuted by consultant counsel to Department of Public Prosecution?s office Kulandra Ratneser. Hall is representing himself.

Mrs. McMahon is not considered fit to be a witness in the case.

In earlier testimony other witnesses said the younger McMahon daughter, Bettina?s interest in her mother was mainly financial.

Mrs. McMahon?s former lawyer and retired Appleby Spurling & Kempe lawyer John Campbell said he was suspicious of Hall becoming Mrs. McMahon?s lawyer because Hall was also thought to represent Bettina McMahon, and Bettina and her mother had conflicting interests.

Yesterday, the older McMahon daughter, Francine Ryan described her sister as a jealous person who had been addicted to drugs since she was a teenager. Bettina McMahon is now 45 years old and living in New York.

Under cross-examination from Hall, Mrs. Ryan said: ?It was on one of those trips, I am pretty sure that my sister said you had a romantic relationship with her in Mexico. My sister told me that. She was bragging about it.?

Hall said he had never been to Mexico.

Earlier in her testimony under examination by senior counsel Carrington Mahoney, Mrs. Ryan said that since 1994, her relationship with her sister had been rocky.

?We had different lifestyles,? she said. ?She was extremely jealous of me. We didn?t see eye to eye. Now our relationship is very bad. My understanding is she is addicted to crack. For the past 30 years she has had a drug problem. The only time I ever saw Bettina with my mother was when my mother was writing a cheque. Sometimes this would be a problem to my mother, sometimes it wouldn?t if she had a reasonable explanation of what she wanted the money for.?

Mrs. Ryan described her mother as a very intelligent and kind, artistic person and a very good mother. She said in the late 1980s, when her mother was living in Florida ? she had always maintained two residences ? her mental health had begun to deteriorate.

?She was hiding behind curtains and escaping from the house,? Mrs. Ryan said. ?We would find her wandering down the street.?

Mrs. McMahon moved permanently to Bermuda in 1992, but the behaviour continued.

?In her better days she was on the telephone quite a bit and entertained her friends,? said Mrs. Ryan. ?Since the late 1980s she has been unable to pick up the phone and make a call. She is incapable of even calling me. A nurse would have to call for her. There was nothing wrong with her physically. Mentally she would not do it. She no longer entertains.?

In 1994 Mrs. McMahon was eventually declared legally incompetent and Mrs. Ryan was given power of attorney.

Because Mrs. Ryan lived in Florida, Sharon Lamb, trust manager of the Bank of Butterfield?s subsidiary, Butterfield Executor Trustee Company oversaw much of Mrs. McMahon?s affairs.

?My power of attorney was extremely limited,? said Mrs. Ryan. ?The only time I ever had a chance to use it was if a particularly large cheque needed to be written for my mother. I think Sharon Lamb might have called me once to exercise this power of attorney.?

Mrs. Ryan said that on November 1, 1995 she received a phone call from Miss Lamb telling her that Hall was going to take over from John Campbell as Mrs. McMahon?s legal advisor. Mrs. Ryan flew down to Bermuda shortly after. She retained lawyer David Kessaram to look into her mother?s affairs.

Earlier in the year, Mrs. Ryan had heard allegations from Bettina McMahon that BETCO and Appleby Spurling & Kempe, the law firm that represented Mrs. McMahon originally, had misappropriated $4 million.

?That was raised by Bettina, what she believed to have been four million stolen,? said Mrs. Ryan. ?When I heard this I called Sharon. She gave an explanation to me. She sent me financial statements. This was about six months prior to November 1995.?

During cross-examination, Hall said to Mrs. Ryan: ?In 1995 I visited you and your husband in Florida. We had arranged to meet because before there had been a telephone conversation between you and myself and your attorney. I made it plain that one of my purposes was to bring you and your sister together in your mother?s best interests. I left expressing some degree of pleasure that I had achieved some success, would you agree??

?I don?t remember you achieving any success,? said Mrs. Ryan.

She was then shown a typed letter with a signature at the bottom and hearts and XXXs and OOOs.

She said that although it was her signature at the bottom she had not written the letter.

?I always write handwritten letters,? she said. ?I never typed a letter. I don?t recall handing you a letter to give to my sister. I don?t know how to type.?

?Why did you find it necessary to mention Bettina?s drug use?? Hall asked.

?It has been a problem for 30 years,? Mrs. Ryan replied.

?Are you a more suitable person than your sister??

?Yes,? Mrs. Ryan said.

?Are you a crack addict??

?No.?

Hall pointed out that at the same time a deed of substitution was made to allow John Campbell and others to have power of attorney over Mrs. McMahon in Mrs. Ryan?s absence, she was going through her own legal proceedings in Palm Beach, Florida.

Mrs. Ryan has four children, the oldest is currently 17 years old. She is separated from her husband and in 1995, she did not have custody.

?In that same year you were the subject of judicial court proceedings in Palm Beach Court where custody was denied you of your children,? said Hall. ?The judge denied modification of the custody order. The court was sceptical that you had come to grips with your alcoholism.?

Mrs. Ryan said she was in therapy at the time, and had subsequently gotten custody of them again.