Cheshire Police are investigating claims that Susan Woodward submitted an invoice for £9,000 to cover accommodation at the home of her daughter's American lawyer Elaine Whitfield Sharp.

Ms Whitfield Sharp, who was sacked by the Woodwards following comments she made about the case to the police when she was arrested for drink driving, is understood to have denied charging the family for accommodation.

A leaked letter from the fund's lawyers, Quinn Melville, confirms that they will be seeking the advice of a barrister specialising in trusts.

'Information-gathering exercise'

The letter says: "We wish to gather as much information as we can and then to ask an independent barrister, an expert in the field of trusts, to let us have advice on what steps if any can be taken to protect the interests of the trustees."

Quinn Melville solicitor Paul Barrow said: "We are co-operating fully with the police inquiry and we do have recourse to expert advice.

"It is only proper that the interests of the trustees are protected."

Officers from Cheshire Police's fraud squad have liaised with the FBI in the US and nterviewed several witnesses in the UK.

Matthew Eappen...the baby Louise Woodward was convicted of killing

Louise Woodward, 21, from Elton, Cheshire, was convicted of the second degree murder of Matthew Eappen a year ago, a verdict which was later reduced to manslaughter.

Came home in June

She returned to Britain in June after the Supreme Judicial Court heard an appeal and she was allowed to go free.

Louise, her mother and father Gary spent several months staying with Ms Whitfield Sharp following her release from prison on bail pending the appeal.

A judge in Boston, Massachusetts, ruled on Thursday that a trial should be held in January to assess punitive damages being claimed by Matthew's parents.

Doctors Sunil and Deborah Eappen are taking the action because they say they do not want Woodward to benefit financially from any media deals.