Clerk took £85k in theft

A woman who nearly put her employers out of business by pocketing £85,000 of their money is today behind bars.

Accounts clerk Jeanette Ball took the money over a period of less than a year, and tried to cover her tracks by deleting computer files and shredding evidence.

Sentencing the 46-year-old to 14 months Judge John Warner described her offending as "a gross breach of trust which had a very adverse effect on a small company."

After the hearing at Stafford Crown Court yesterday, Steve Wooding, managing director of the firm, Wheel Solutions Ltd, of Hednesford, which employs about 30, people said: "We feel justice has been done.

"This was a calculated, planned and sustained fraud and I think we were all concerned that a custodial sentence might not have been the option."

Ball, of Charterfield Drive, Heath Hayes, admitted two charges of theft of a total £75,979 and one of possessing a further £9,185 being criminal property.

Mr Nick Burn, prosecuting, said Ball had responsibility for making payments on behalf of Wheel Solutions but in effect put the money into her own account.

He said the offences came to light when a query arose while she was on holiday.

Mr Burn added that in a victim statement the Wheel Solutions said: "The consequences were so severe that jobs were in jeopardy unless urgent action was taken."

Ball repaid just over £16,000 on her arrest and her realisable assets now stood at £13,644. Judge Warner ordered that sum be confiscated and paid to Wheel Solutions by way of compensation.