A HAMPSHIRE mum who stole nearly £18,000 from her employer has to pay back just £7,000.
Caroline Butler, a supervisor for Shell garages in both Hythe and Shirley for 13 years, stole £17,720 in cash, Southampton Crown Court heard.
Her boss Mr Hunt noticed missing payments in August and September last year and discovered cash had been taken from money bags and the garage’s safe on five separate occasions.
When he confronted Butler, 34, who did the banking alone, she admitted stealing the cash and was arrested.
Butler, of Old Redbridge Road, Southampton, paid £2,000 back from money given to her by her grandmother, the court heard.
Prosecuting, Mary Aspinall- Miles said Butler got into “severe financial difficulties”
when her older child’s father refused to make any payments for the child who has health problems and has expensive dietary needs.
Butler, who lives in a onebedroom flat with her two children and current husband, also had a £500 nursery bill for her three-year-old and was threatened by bailiffs.
Ms Aspinall-Miles said: “She says she couldn’t afford to feed or clothe her children.
“It started off small but then she got a taste for it and it got worse and worse and worse as her financial position got worse.”
Mitigating, John-Paul Jones said Butler, who now works for Hermes, a courier firm, was of previous good character. She is also subjected to verbal abuse from her husband and is taking antidepressants, he added.
Judge Peter Ralls, said: “I am told and I expect that at the time you were under extreme financial pressure but nevertheless that does not excuse stealing and that does not excuse stealing from your employer.”
Sentencing her to 50 weeks in prison suspended for two years and 200 hours of community service, he added: “You have lost your good character, you have lost your job and you very nearly lost your liberty.”
She must pay £5,000 back to her employer but no costs.
Speaking after court Mr Hunt said the theft had put him in difficult trading conditions.
He said: “It seems like it pays to be a criminal. I don’t feel that I warranted being treated in that way after employing her for 13 years.
“If she’d have asked me for a loan I’d have given it to her, but why steal nearly £18,000?”
