A SUPERMARKET worker who had her fingers in the till and stole £18,000 while working at a store’s petrol station has to hand over just £1.

Claire Bevan, 48, was back before a judge after she avoided going straight to jail in June for pocketing money belonging to Morrisons in Cwmbran.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard she had no available assets which can be seized.

Bevan was ordered by Recorder Mark Cotter QC to pay a nominal sum of £1 within a week or face seven days in jail.

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The defendant, of Coleridge Green, St Dials, Cwmbran, was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years, earlier this year.

It followed her guilty plea to the theft with the offence being committed between February 2020 and January 2021.

During her sentencing hearing, Nik Strobl, prosecuting, told Newport Crown Court: “She stole around £100 per shift.

“The defendant spent the money on her family who she always wished to please.

“She was often left in the store by herself and in charge of the money. She was left in a position of trust by her employer.”

He said Morrisons began an investigation in December 2020 when the supermarket chain had noticed "large losses" in the petrol filling station.

For customers paying with cash, Bevan would void payments on items which opened the till and would give them the exact change and pocketed the money.

If someone paid with the right amount, she would void the payment, which opened the till up automatically, and keep hold of the cash.

A CCTV camera caught her in the act.

Barrister Karl Williams, mitigating for Bevan, said: “Her motivation for offending was not for personal financial gain.

“She was trying to compensate her children for the lack of contact they had in her life.”

Bevan must carry out 60 hours of unpaid work and complete a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Following the POCA hearing, she was also ordered to pay a £149 victim surcharge within three months.