A 26-year-old woman who defrauded a Shropshire charity where she worked of £8,460 has avoided a jail term.

Jenny Morris, of The Leasowes, Ford, near Shrewsbury, took the money from charity Relate.

Morris, who worked as a receptionist for the charity, pleaded guilty to committing fraud between February 1 and July 22.

Read the full story in today’s Shropshire Star

A 26-year-old woman who defrauded a Shropshire charity where she worked of £8,460 has avoided a jail term.

Jenny Morris, of The Leasowes, Ford, near Shrewsbury, took the money from charity Relate.

Morris, who worked as a receptionist for the charity, pleaded guilty to committing fraud between February 1 and July 22.

She was sentenced to 40 weeks in prison suspended for two years and ordered to pay £150 costs, complete 200 hours’ unpaid community work and attend a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing on November 19 to recover the stolen money.

The mother-of-two used an electronic payment system 180 times to pay monies into her own bank account while passing the transactions off as refunds for clients, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told.

Amounts varied, but at times the individual transactions were worth hundreds of pounds.

Mr Stephen Bacon, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was responsible for taking payments on the PDQ machine which can also be used for making refunds.

“She used the machine for refunds but was paying them into her account using the card details of people who had been to Relate.”

When Relate’s chief executive noticed the charity was not covering its costs, an accountant was drafted in, he added.

“It was clear that the refunds were taking place when this defendant was working,” he said.

When charity bosses quizzed Morris about the missing money she confessed and the matter was reported to police.

Mr Mike Sherwood-Smith, for Morris, said his client stole the money to help pay her rent and day-to-day living costs.