A 76-YEAR-OLD clerk at a Welsh town council who swindled her employer out of £238,000 has been jailed.

Margaret Buckley wrote more than 120 cheques to herself, her daughter, a local church and its flower group when she was the clerk of Maesteg Town Council.

The pensioner pocketed £81,181.68 for herself.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how £152,173.86 was deposited into accounts belonging to Lady & St Patrick Roman Catholic Church and £3,850 was paid to Buckley’s daughter.

The pensioner persuaded councillors to sign blank cheques and created bogus invoices from suppliers to cover her tracks.

Her scam went undetected for nearly five years before she was finally caught.

Cat Jones, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was deputy clerk before she took over the role of clerk in January 2016 following the retirement of a colleague.

“Part of her daily responsibilities were the administrative management of accounts and oversight of the town council’s cheque book.”

“The defendant had convinced councillors to sign blank cheques which she later used for her own purposes.

“None of the beneficiaries were entitled to that money from the town council.

“The payments were made without the authorisation or knowledge of the town council.”

She was suspended from her job in January 2020 following an Audit Wales investigation.

Buckley, of Llwydarth Road, Maesteg, pleaded guilty to defrauding the council out of £238,820.54.

Ms Jones added how the money has been reimbursed to Maesteg Town Council by its insurance company.

Buckley is due to face a proceeds of crime hearing as the insurers aim to recoup their losses.

Miss Jones added: “In her police interview she admitted her offence.

“She said she initially took the money to make contributions to repairs that were needed at the local church and planned to pay it back.

“The defendant accepts the matter got out of hand.

“Towards the end of her interview she says, ‘It’s my fault. I don’t want anyone else involved. I want to take the whole blame. I did it. I’m very sorry that I did it but it just got out of hand. I’m remorseful but I will take the punishment that will be handed out to me.’”

Buckley’s replacement as town clerk Sian Teisar said in a victim impact statement how the fraud had caused the town council’s reputation “irreparable harm”.

The defendant was a woman of previous good character with no convictions recorded against her.

Robin Rouch, mitigating, asked for his client to be given full credit for her early guilty plea and added how her offending was “unsophisticated”.

Judge Shomon Khan told the defendant: “You abused your position of power within the council and you breached their trust.

“This was committed over a significant period of time.”

Buckley was jailed for two years and four months and told she would serve half that time in custody before being released on licence.