THIS is the shameless solicitor who stole from a mother's will to her four-year-old daughter.

Thieving Robert Storey promised to invest Abbie Balfour's tragic legacy after her mother Janice died of an asthma attack.

But instead the greedy 60-year-old lawyer spent the girl's £5,611 nest egg money within three months.

Storey stooped so low he even took cash from a 94-year-old woman, and he thought nothing of plundering the estates of dead clients.

He was accused of stealing up to £264,000 from people, but detectives in Hampshire believe that was the tip of the iceberg.

The staggering trail of deceit - which left trusting families shattered by the sheer scale of betrayal - has just emerged for the first time in court.

When confronted by his sickening crimes, Storey, who claimed he was ill, would only say two words: "No comment."

But fraud squad investigator DC Nigel Davies, who painstakingly unravelled the complicated web of Storey's lies, said: "Whatever he may say about being ill, he is a thief.

"He has stolen from clients - in particular the vulnerable, the elderly and the dead."

The solicitor yesterday admitted nine counts of theft, totalling nearly £28,000, and a further 13 similar charges were ordered to lie on file.

In total the alleged amount of missing money in all the charges came to nearly £264,000.

Storey's 30-minute hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court was yesterday adjourned until a date to be fixed for sentencing.

Storey, of Queen's Crescent, Southsea, admitted nine counts of theft relating to four people, aged between four and 94, from south Hampshire.

More on this story in tonight's Daily Echo.