THE mother of a terminally ill child has condemned her former husband for appealing against his sentence for stealing £3,500 donated to his daughter.

Phoebe Smith, 29, branded her ex-partner Albi Elliott, 45, a “vile, horrible person”.

She added: “He knows he’s done wrong so why is he still trying to come out smelling of roses?”

Elliott of Vines Cross, Heathfield, was jailed for three years back in June 2014 after being convicted of stealing £3,500 that was donated to his daughter.

The money had been given to Ashanti by fundraisers.

Appearing before appeal judges, he said he wanted his sentence reduced because his daughter, from Burgess Hill, might die before he is released.

Ashanti Elliott-Smith suffers from rare genetic ageing disorder Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome and is not expected to live past the age of 15.

She had dreamed of swimming with dolphins and as an 11-year-old she was handed a cheque by Sussex British Motorcycle Owners Club to realise that dream.

But instead, her father hid the fundraising cash from his family, paid it into his own account and squandered it within two months on trips to Tesco.

Ms Smith added: “I was gobsmacked that he had done all that to his baby and still can’t take the punishment.

“To steal Ashanti’s little bit of dream money, he needs to take the punishment for everything he’s done.

“I just hope they don’t let him out.”

He was initially sentenced after being found guilty of fraud by a jury at Chichester Crown Court last June.

At his appeal, judge Mr Justice Walker said the “betrayal of the trust” of his own daughter, family, friends and the motorcycle association called for a severe sentence.

The pair met in 2002 when Ms Smith was just 16, together having Ashanti, 11, and Brandilouise, nine.

Phoebe added: “When he’s out he can see his children but it will only be through a contact centre.”

“Being a single mum some days I find it really hard to cope, but not once have I even taken a pound out of her account.

“I would rather go over the road and ask my mum for a tenner to stick on the electricity meter.

“Stealing off a child who is terminally ill, he should have got at least ten years, I swear to God he should have.”

Ashanti appeared in The Argus last year after readers pooled together to give her the “girly hair” of her dreams instead of the pink wig she tried to wear to school.