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Clerk who stole £136k from Walsall firm is ordered to repay £1

A payroll clerk who stole more than £136,000 from the Black Country recruitment firm she worked for before spending her ill-gotten gains on theatre tickets, clothing and meals has even ordered to pay back just £1.

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Gemma Freeman who was responsible for paying employees on behalf of Walsall-based Careerlink Ltd, had used her position to transfer thousands of pounds into her own account each month.

However the 28-year-old from Willenhall 'frittered' her ill-gotten gains on things that made her 'feel better' after she suffered from family problems.

She was jailed for two years in April but was back at Wolverhampton Crown Court via video link to see if any of the money she had made through her crimes could be recovered.

Appearing for the crown, David Lees told the court that Freeman had profited to the tune of £136,470.74 from the 46 fraudulent transactions she had made in the course of just over 10 months last year.

However he told the court that she had very little money available.

He added: "She is heavily in debt and has numerous defaulted accounts and no assets."

Judge Michael Dudley accepted her financial position and ordered Freeman, of Shepherd Road in Willenhall, to repay the nominal fee of £1.

After she was caught Freeman told the police that she was not the only person to have access to the computer system payments were made.

However she later changed her story and admitted the offences, which took place between April and October 2012.

And at April's hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court she admitted fraud by abuse of a position of trust.

At Freeman's sentencing hearing Miss Kate Thomas, defending, said her client had suffered from family problems.

Her father had suffered from ill health while she had struggled to cope after the birth of her first child.

"She was not taking the money to pay off debt. It was quite simply frittered away on quick fixes. She bought things like going out for meals, the theatre and clothes, things that made her feel better," added Miss Thomas.

Freeman, who had worked for the firm for seven years, had no previous convictions.

After she was jailed bosses at Careerlink said she was a 'trusted member of staff' but the company wanted to move on from what had happened.

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