A CROOKED employee stole £11,000 from her bosses after falsifying refunds to clients 93 times on a card machine into her own account.

Grandmother Helen Simmonds, 51, carried out the two-year fraud while working for Valley Vets Ltd in Ystrad Mynach and Caerphilly.

She had also used the account of one of her colleagues to hide what she was doing.

Christopher Evans, prosecuting, said: “It was sophisticated offending and it took place over a substantial period of time.

“There was no loss to clients but to the company.

“At a meeting in July 2022, she admitted sole responsibility for the transactions.

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“She was later dismissed for gross misconduct.”

Simmonds pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position between March 10, 2020 and May 6, 2022.

The defendant has a previous conviction for a similar offence after being convicted of theft by an employee.

She received a suspended prison sentence in 2012 for stealing £800 from Santander.

Alice Sykes representing Simmonds said: “She has offered to pay the money back from the beginning.

“She made full and frank admissions in her interview with the police.”

The defendant was described at Newport Crown Court as a “committed mother and grandmother” whose daughter is currently in labour.

Miss Sykes added: “There is strong personal mitigation and a prospect of rehabilitation in this case.

“She was going through a difficult time during Covid dealing with her husband’s alcoholism.”

The judge, Recorder Sean Bradley, told Simmonds: “You used the account of one of your colleagues to hide what you were doing.”

He said he had come close to sending her to prison because of her similar previous conviction but decided against it because there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

Simmonds, of Cardiff Road, Treharris, Merthyr Tydfil was jailed for 12 months but that sentence was suspended for 18 months.

She must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and complete 12 sessions of a rehabilitation activity requirement.

The defendant was made the subject of an eight-month electronically curfew between 8pm and 6am.

Simmonds will have to pay back some of the £11,417.10 she took in compensation at the rate of £150 a month for two years.

She will also have to pay a £149 victim surcharge.