A ‘trusted’ supermarket worker who stole over £6,000 from the tills over a seven-month period has avoided jail.
Sarah Louise Power had worked at the Co-Op store in Oswaldtwistle for over four years and had risen to the role of team leader and key holder for the premises.
However a court heard how she abused her position by tampering with till transactions between January and July this year and pocketed £6,035.08 in cash.
The mum of one, who is pregnant with her second child, told company investigators and police that she was struggling financially and had started taking small amounts from the till but it ‘spiralled out of control’.
Power, 27, of Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, pleaded guilty to theft and was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation in £50 payments over the next 12 months.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting, told the court that over her years of service to the supermarket she had achieved a position with a ‘high degree of trust’ and had access to the tills.
The court heard how through a ‘relatively simple method’ she tampered with transactions and pocketed the cash.
Mr Parker said in January this year she started by stealing £8 before then taking around £400 in February, £500 in March, £930 in April, £1,800 in May, £1,700 in June and £600 in July.
The court heard how the till monies were ‘out of sync’ but the ‘accounting books were in order because of the way she operated the till’.
Mr Parker said it was ‘unclear how the offending came to light’ but suspicions were raised by staff when Power was away on holiday.
Co-Op bosses initially thought only £3,000 had been stolen, however it was revealed to be ‘rather more than that’, the court heard.
Power was interviewed by the supermarket investigations team and ‘fully admitted the offences’.
She has since been dismissed from her job.
When interviewed by police she told officers that she no longer had the money and that ‘finances had been tight at home’.
Mr Parker told the court that she was ‘really struggling to manage her finances and keep herself in the black’ and took the money from the tills to ‘tide her over’.
He said that she started taking money in ‘small amounts and it spiralled out of control’.
The court heard how Power had tried to secure employment in the care industry but was forced to leave the position after her convictions became public.
'You have now lost your good character' - Judge
Defence barrister Anthony Parkinson said Sarah Louise Power was struggling to pay the ‘spiralling’ interest rates on loan debts and was ‘too proud’ to ask her family for help.
The court heard how she had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
Mr Parkinson said: “Her remorse is genuine and has been throughout from the second she was taken to task by the company.
“This conviction will carry with it an inevitable stigma and lead to the loss of her good name.
“People in the local area will know about her wrongdoing. She will have difficulty securing employment in this field which is something of a travesty. She had worked hard over a period years to get where she was in this company.”
Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Gibson said: “
You were in a high degree of trust in that store.
“What you did was to show transactions in a particular way on the till and were able to take the money from that transaction without the account deficit.
“You have now lost your good character. Had you had previous convictions for this type of offence I would’ve had no hesitation in passing an immediate custodial sentence.”
