Willenhall bank worker will lose car over £43k con

A bank worker from Willenhall who stole almost £43,000 from elderly customers will have to pay back just a fraction of the money she took, it emerged today.

Mother-of-four Selina Watters was jailed for 16 months after she used a work computer system to shift funds from the accounts of her Barclays customers into that of her 10-year-old son.

But a probe by financial investigators has revealed the 34-year-old former personal banker only has one asset – a car worth £2,000 – to her name.

Prosecutors will make an application to seize that vehicle early next year under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

Watters was jailed in August after stealing £42,959 with sums ranging from £550 to £8,500. Most of the victims were elderly, with the crimes committed during their visits to the branches in Queen Street, Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton Street, Willenhall.

Watters helped people with their banking and then some time later accessed the bank accounts. The offences happened between January 2009 and March 2010.

Watters, of Bradley Drive, Willenhall, admitted eight charges of theft. She was not in court for yesterday's hearing because she would have had to have travelled from prison in York.

The application will be finalised at the next hearing in early January.