'I'm so angry at my daughter'

The GP mother of the City secretary convicted of stealing £4.3 million from her employers today spoke of her heartbreak and anger.

Dr Devi Schahhou revealed she had not spoken to Joyti De-Laurey since she was found guilty of swindling her bosses at Goldman Sachs.

Asked if she felt betrayed by her daughter, Dr Schahhou said: "There are so many things to say, things I would like to say but I cannot. I am so furious, but my lawyers have told me I cannot say anything."

Speaking for the first time since De-Laurey was convicted at Southwark Crown Court, Dr Schahhou said: "I feel angry about my daughter and I have not spoken to her."

After a hard-working career as a family doctor in Camden Town, she stands convicted on four counts of helping launder some of the huge sums her daughter stole to fund her lavish lifestyle.

Dr Schahhou, 68, never took the witness stand at the trial, but pleaded her innocence through her barrister.

Meanwhile, her patients at the Cliff Road Medical Practice praised the GP. Motherof-three Atik Gorur, 26, said: "She has always made time for me and called on me out of hours when my children were ill. I have no doubt she had no idea what her daughter had been up to."

As De-Laurey, 35, awaits a lengthy jail term her mother, who has difficulty walking, also faces an uncertain future. Dr Schahhou's lawyer will argue for a non-custodial sentence in June, but a locum is filling in for her "indefinitely" at the surgery.

Dr Schahhou, known at her practice as Dr Fatnani, qualified in Bombay in 1961. Her husband Mukkeisch, an accountant, studied in the sub-continent before they moved to England.

They doted on their only child and struggled to find the fees for her private school, South Hampstead High. A former friend said: "Although her parents were hard working they did not have a great deal of spare cash. They lived in a modest flat in Primrose Hill but Jot wanted a lot more."

There are other concerns for Dr Schahhou. One of her convictions relates to the mortgage on her home. De-Laurey paid it off with £32,735 of stolen money and Goldman Sachs wants the money back.

Outside the flat is the £30,800 Chrysler Grand Voyager her soninlaw Anthony De-Laurey bought her. She was cleared of charges relating to the vehicle after the court heard it was too big and she did not like it.

Relations between mother and daughter seem to have got worse during the trial. Dr Schahhou wept

as her daughter took the stand and told how their relationship was not close.

Through her barrister, Dr Schahhou was forced to admit she had travelled to Cyprus where she had opened two bank accounts through which flowed most of the stolen funds her daughter used to buy a villa overlooking the sea.

As the guilty verdicts on her mother were returned, De-Laurey slowly turned to face her. Dr Schahhou did not look at her but buried her face in her hands.