Welshpool mum jailed for thefts from employer

A Mid Wales mother has been jailed after a court heard how she stole cash from her employer - while on a suspended sentence for doing the same thing.

Defendant Sara Jones, 33, from Parc Caradog, Welshpool, was an administrative assistant at a haulage company in the town. But in what was described at Mold Crown Court as a "gross breach of trust", she took more than £26,000.

The court heard at the time she was on a suspended sentence for taking money from a previous employer.

Jones admitted six fraud charges against DG Haulage of Welshpool, and was jailed for nine months.

Judge Niclas Parry yesterday said it "frankly beggared belief" Jones had committed the same offence again after being offered a lifeline.

He said: "No doubt the powerful mitigation about the effect on your family was urged upon the court at that time."

But only four months into the 18-month suspended prison sentence she was defrauding her new employer, but this time "on a grander scale".

A nominal £5 confiscation order was made, but remains in place in case Jones comes into funds.

Caroline Harris, prosecuting, said haulage firm owner David Mills called in police and it emerged Jones had used company cheques for her own benefit and had also given herself extra salary.

In July 2010 she got hold of a blank signed cheque and made it out for £12,800 to HMCS, the courts service, to settle her husband's debt. She paid herself cheques and 10 extra payments on the payroll system.

Paul Smith, in mitigation, said his client appreciated that she had previously been given the "chance of a lifetime".