Theft was to pay debt (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Theft was to pay debt

A WOMAN who stole a cheque from the office where she was working and then cashed it for £1,500 has escaped a jail term.

Kim Sanger, who has a previous conviction for stealing from work, used the money to pay her mortgage off and top up her phone.

A judge at Swindon Crown Court decided not to jail the 40-year-old, instead telling her to complete 220 hours of community service and pay back the cash over time.

Tim Hills, prosecuting, said Sanger had worked in the warehouse for the Sports Traders' Alliance Group, based in Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill, for some years before being made redundant in March 2005.

However, she returned as a cleaner and was at work on Saturday, July 30 when she went to the manager's office and stole two cheques from the company chequebook.

She forged a signature and made it out to herself for £1,500.

On the following Monday, August 1, she went to Wimslow Bros, a cheque cashing company in the town centre.

"With that she paid off an instalment of her mortgage. She was in trouble at the time, and the rest she put in a drawer at her property," Mr Hills said.

"She was traced by August 3 because all the leads led back to her.

She was arrested and interviewed and made a full admission to the theft of the cheques.

"With regard to the second cheque she ripped it up and put it in a bin bag at her home. She paid £820 on her mortgage and £100 on her phone."

Sanger, of Whiteman Street, admitted theft and obtaining property by deception.

Rob Ross, defending, said that after she had paid the fees for cashing the cheque and paying the mortgage and her phone, she was left with £460.

He said that she had not spent the cash on 'frivolity' but instead kept the money and returned it to the police when they arrested her.

Sanger, he said, was having trouble with the mortgage after buying her home with her sister.

Although they had made the purchase together she had taken over it on her own after her sister moved out and was struggling to make ends meet.

"This is a situation of someone who got themselves into financial difficulties and very stupidly took a decision that was always going to come back and bite her," he said.

"She was desperate to pay her mortgage as it was in arrears."

He said she was back working at a company called Bondline, which makes anti-static products and had a part-time job in catering at the local Masonic centre.

Passing sentence, Judge Tom Longbotham said: "If you breach it, any sentence will be a custodial sentence."

Gareth Bethell