A CROOKED accountant spent money earmarked for her victims 'to make life more tolerable while she was in prison'.

Noreen Chaudhry, who was jailed for two years last October, is already free after getting out of jail in June having done about a third of the sentence behind bars.

On Friday the 53-year-old was back before Swindon Crown Court for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

When she appeared before a judge in April she said the £535 in her bank account was not hers to hand over to her former employers Acklea, in Calne.

Speaking from the dock the fraudster said it was an overpayment of benefits which had to be returned to the Department of Work and Pensions

But the court heard in the final two months of her time in prison she found out that she didn't have to hand it back, so spent it on herself.

Chaudhry left Acklea close to collapse as she milked their finances for what she could.

Jailing her, the judge at that time questioned her explanation that she was 'making ends meet' by taking home an extra £60,000 a year.

She had been brought in by the company in 2010 after its founder David Phizacklea suffered ill health and had considerable control over the funds.

During three years, by a variety of means, she transferred £182,000 from the company to accounts under he control.

As well as writing cheques to herself, her husband, and for cash, she also transferred money to accounts in the names of family members.

She also created false invoices using genuine clients' names and doctored bank statements to cover up what she did.

But in the summer of 2013 it all unravelled when a supplier talking about a true invoice revealed others were not from them.

As a result of her crime the company had struggled and workers missed out on pay rises and bonuses.

On Friday prosecutor George Threlfall said: "Mrs Chaudhry said she could not repay it as it represented overpaid Disability Living Allowance while she was in prison: therefore it would have to go back to the DWP.

"It now transpires she has spent that money.

"She has spent it on herself to make life more tolerable while she was in prison."

He said that the Barclays account the money was in had not been frozen as it was only policy to do that if there was more than £5,000 in it.

The court was told that the victims had forced her to sell two properties and got £140,000 back after suing her in the civil court.

Anthony Bell, for Chaudhry, of Malone Avenue, St Andrews Ridge, Swindon, said the court could only consider the money that was available.

He also said that a friend was prepared to lend her £50 so she could buy back the old laptop computer the police seized when she was arrested.

Judge Peter Blair QC ruled that the criminal benefit was £165,00, and that she should just repay the £21.65 in the bank and £50 for the laptop.

He said "I am not going to declare there is a greater sum available that there is," giving her 28 days to hand over the cash or serve two weeks in default.