An elderly mother was cheated out of her daughter's insurance money by the dead woman's scheming lover and an old friend, a court heard yesterday. Former senior police constable Stanley Lau Chup-hei, 52, was said to have joined forces with insurance agent Chan Mei-lan to benefit from his former girlfriend's US$200,000 (HK$1.54 million) policy. Officer-turned-businesswoman Fanny Chow Fung-lin died from lung cancer in April 1994, aged 40. Her mother, Koon Tung-ying, 70, and Mr Lau were in court yesterday to hear who should receive the money. The insurance agent, who had been friends with Chow for 15 years, abused her trust by duping the dying woman into signing a blank form, said barrister Anthony Ismail, for Ms Koon. Chow was led to believe she was signing for her insurance payments to be switched from cheque to autopay, the court heard. Mr Ismail argued that Chow never intended to change the insurance beneficiary from Ms Koon to Mr Lau and that the 'purported change was the handiwork' of Mr Lau and Ms Chan. Mr Lau told the Court of First Instance that he and Chow began their 'intimate relationship' in the 1980s, when they worked together on the force. Chow had a partner at the time but moved in with Mr Lau for a few months in 1984. In July 1992, Chow applied to the National Mutual Insurance Company (Bermuda) for life insurance. In December 1993, a month after being diagnosed as having lung cancer, Chow was said to have applied to National Mutual to change the name of the beneficiary from her mother to Mr Lau. She died four months later. The case continues before Deputy Judge Michael Hartmann.