A DOCTOR'S surgery manager who swindled her employers out of nearly £90,000 was jailed for 12 months yesterday.

Deirdre Sellars, 59, used the money she stole from the Caldicot Medical Group to pay for holidays, Christmas presents, days out, food and flowers, Newport crown court was told.

The majority of the cash she took was public money given to the practice from the Assembly's health service budget.

Sellars, of Merthyr Road, Govilon, Abergavenny, paid herself cheques, awarded herself unauthorised salary rises and used the business' debit card. Sellars admitted stealing a total of £86,776.33 between 1999 and 2004. Prosecutor Susan Ferrier said: "She abused the trust placed in her by her employers by systematically stealing monies from the practice."

The sentencing judge made a confiscation order that she compensates her employers for the money stolen.

Sellars was responsible for the practice's financial and fund holding management including the day-to-day running of the bank accounts and for paying staff.

She pleaded guilty to 15 counts of obtaining money transfers by deception, five counts of obtaining property by deception, and three counts of theft.

Her deception only came to light, Mrs Ferrier said, because one of the practice GPs, Dr Glyn Owen, took it upon himself to understand more about the practice's finances in February 2005.

Dr Owen noticed upon examination bank statements where entries were concealed by corrective fluid and handwritten amendments made.

The court heard that between 2001 and 2002 Sellars overpaid herself by almost £8,000 and was receiving a salary of £40,667 in 2004-2005. Mrs Ferrier said: "The defendant was later to say in police interviews and correspondence with the practice that the stealing resulted from personal difficulties due to spiralling debt. However this did not appear to be borne out by the transaction details."

Michael Mather-Lees, mitigating, told Recorder Peter Murphy, QC, Sellars "comes before you terrified". He said she was "sucked into a whirlpool of debt" and got loans at exorbitant interest rates. He said the "slam of the prison door will be shattering" for Stellars.

Sellars, who has no previous convictions, asked for 216 offences amounting to £28,170.42 to be taken into consideration. She has £87,412.31 in assets and the judge ordered she compensate her employers for the full amount by October 1 or face a longer jail sentence.