A THIEVING stock assistant who stole more than £32,000 paid into a county CIU branch headquarters is able to pay back only £2,000.

Leesa Hunter took cash payments over the counter at the Durham office and gave the customers a credit notice.

But she altered the accounting system to make it appear no money was paid and simply kept the cash for herself.

Durham Crown Court heard that she paid it into her own bank account, but at different branches in the area so no staff members would recognise her and suspect her of any suspicious activity.

She escaped detection for six years, but suspicion arose when a club secretary produced a list of cash payments for stock made to Hunter at the Flass Street office, in February last year.

He received invoices for the payments, but none were recorded in the accounts and the figures did not tally with those input on the system.

On hearing there was to be a full audit of accounts Hunter left in March last year and did not return to the office.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing she eventually made admissions, in June 2019.

Scrutiny of her bank account revealed 32 cash instalments for different amounts totalling more than £15,000, made between November 2013 and February 2016.

She told investigators she used the money to make repayments to her credit cards, which were up to the limit.

The hearing was told her offending cast suspicion on all staff at the office, whose jobs were put in jeopardy.

Hunter, 48, of Moorhouse Gardens, Hetton-le-Hole, who has no previous convictions, admitted fraud.

Liam O’Brien, mitigating, told the sentencing hearing her conviction would result in her also losing her new job with a car rental company and would find it hard to obtain future employment.

She was made subject of a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 200-hours’ unpaid work and 30 probation activity days.

Hunter also had to observe a three-month overnight home curfew.

Six months after the sentencing hearing the case came back before the court, sitting at Newcastle, where Mr Dryden said the agreed benefit figure from her crimes was £32,308.49, but the available amount was £2,000.

Judge Ray Singh agreed a £2,000 confiscation sum of £2,000 with two months in prison in default of payment.