By . Sam Webb . The former editor of two of Australia's top magazines has told a court she was so high on drugs she did not notice her friend was stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds from her. Nene King, who helmed Woman's Day and Australian Women's Weekly magazines, only find out she was being stolen from when she noticed a card transaction for a meal at fast food outlet she never ate at, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard. Ms King was, 69, giving evidence in the case of her former friend, Colin Hahne, who has been charged with stealing more than $223,000 from her between December 2008 and September 2009. Nene King, pictured being interviewed on Australian television, claims a former friend stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps as much as half a million, from her through fraud . Hahne, 43, faces a total of 42 charges involving theft, dishonesty and forgery offences. Ms King told the court of her addiction to cannabis at the time, claiming she was smoking up to 10 joints a day and spending up to $600 a month on the drug. She was also taking Prozac and was battling depression after the death of her third husband, Patrick Bowring, in a diving accident in 1996. 'It was a very difficult time,' she told the court. 'I must be honest, I was not well.' The Age reported that Hahne and another man lived with Ms King while the alleged offences took place. She discovered the losses after going through her bank statements and believes the thefts totalled more than half a million Australian dollar, financially crippling her. She said transactions relating to a private health insurer, a telecommunications company, Lotto purchases, apartments and the fast food outlet were examples of alleged fraudulent activity. Visionary: Miss King was seen as a publishing revolutionary who pushed magazine sales to a record level in the 1980s . Ms King, under cross examination by defence lawyer Sarah Leighfield, said she had bought Hahne and the other man a trip to Paris and Monte Carlo as a thank you for looking after her house and pets while she was in hospital. She claimed to be on a holiday in America in May 2009 when her credit cards both bounced because she owed $44,000 on her American Express card and $32,000 on her Westpac Visa card. She said: 'I thought I still had a lot of money in those days,' she said. 'I worked hard for a very long time and earned a lot of money.' She added that when she met her lawyer to discuss the alleged thefts she was 'demented' and could have made mistakes when identifying on bank statements other, smaller examples of alleged fraud. King was dubbed 'the queen of cash and trash' because she paid vast sums of money for paparazzi photographs of celebrities during the 1980s and 1990s. She first noticed the fraud after her credit cards were rejected in the U.S., even though she believed she had lots of money left from her glittering career . Under her stewardship Woman's Day she boosted its circulation to an Australian magazine sales record of 1.4million. She later became the first woman board member of Kerry Packer's Australian Consolidated Press empire. A two-part ABC series called Paper Giants: Magazine War will depict her life. The preliminary hearing continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
Nene King, who revolutionised Australian publishing, was in court today .
She claims Mark Hahne stole up to half a million dollars from her .
Court hears how her addiction blinded her to alleged theft .
By . Sam Webb . The former editor of two of Australia's top magazines has told a court she was so high on drugs she did not notice her friend was stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds from her. Nene King, who helmed Woman's Day and Australian Women's Weekly magazines, only find out she was being stolen from when she noticed a card transaction for a meal at fast food outlet she never ate at, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard. Ms King was, 69, giving evidence in the case of her former friend, Colin Hahne, who has been charged with stealing more than $223,000 from her between December 2008 and September 2009. Nene King, pictured being interviewed on Australian television, claims a former friend stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps as much as half a million, from her through fraud . Hahne, 43, faces a total of 42 charges involving theft, dishonesty and forgery offences. Ms King told the court of her addiction to cannabis at the time, claiming she was smoking up to 10 joints a day and spending up to $600 a month on the drug. She was also taking Prozac and was battling depression after the death of her third husband, Patrick Bowring, in a diving accident in 1996. 'It was a very difficult time,' she told the court. 'I must be honest, I was not well.' The Age reported that Hahne and another man lived with Ms King while the alleged offences took place. She discovered the losses after going through her bank statements and believes the thefts totalled more than half a million Australian dollar, financially crippling her. She said transactions relating to a private health insurer, a telecommunications company, Lotto purchases, apartments and the fast food outlet were examples of alleged fraudulent activity. Visionary: Miss King was seen as a publishing revolutionary who pushed magazine sales to a record level in the 1980s . Ms King, under cross examination by defence lawyer Sarah Leighfield, said she had bought Hahne and the other man a trip to Paris and Monte Carlo as a thank you for looking after her house and pets while she was in hospital. She claimed to be on a holiday in America in May 2009 when her credit cards both bounced because she owed $44,000 on her American Express card and $32,000 on her Westpac Visa card. She said: 'I thought I still had a lot of money in those days,' she said. 'I worked hard for a very long time and earned a lot of money.' She added that when she met her lawyer to discuss the alleged thefts she was 'demented' and could have made mistakes when identifying on bank statements other, smaller examples of alleged fraud. King was dubbed 'the queen of cash and trash' because she paid vast sums of money for paparazzi photographs of celebrities during the 1980s and 1990s. She first noticed the fraud after her credit cards were rejected in the U.S., even though she believed she had lots of money left from her glittering career . Under her stewardship Woman's Day she boosted its circulation to an Australian magazine sales record of 1.4million. She later became the first woman board member of Kerry Packer's Australian Consolidated Press empire. A two-part ABC series called Paper Giants: Magazine War will depict her life. The preliminary hearing continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
pounds from her. Nene King, who helmed Woman's interviewed on Australian television, claims a dollars, perhaps as much as half a million, from while she was in hospital. She claimed to be on a