Worker jailed for theft of £30,000

A serial thief who stole more than £30,000 from the Telford petrol stations where she worked was behind bars today.

Claire Merrick, 44, was given a second chance by her boss at the Shell garages in Ketley and Donnington after she admitting stealing £14,080, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard. But the mother of four, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, repaid the kindness by stealing a further £19,179.

Merrick, of Ironside Close, St Georges, Telford, had admitted two offences of theft at an earlier hearing.

Judge Nicholas Mitchell sentenced Merrick to six months for the first theft and 18 months for the second, to run consecutively."When detected and given another chance you have cynically gone on and done it again," he said.

The court heard Merrick had been given a suspended jail term in 2002 after admitting stealing £10,000 from Ketley pre-school Jack and Jill's.

Mr Stephen Bacon, prosecuting, said she had worked as a manager at the Clocktower petrol station in Donnington, where her duties had involved banking cash, reconciling tills, managing staff and ordering stock.

A audit in March last year showed a banking slip was £100 down and Merrick admitted to Marion Leggett, the franchisee, she had been stealing.

The court heard she had been banking less cash than the businesses had taken between October 2006 and March 2007.

Merrick remained in post and started to pay back money through deductions in her wages. However, Mrs Leggett noticed the businesses were missing money late last year and decided to conduct an audit of each garage.

Mr Bacon said Merrick then wrote to her admitting she had been stealing again and had let her down.

Mr Julian Tutchenor-Ellis, for Merrick, said she had felt "duty bound" to help her eldest daughter, who had been struggling financially and had wanted to give money to her ex-partner who had two of her children living with him.

She was diagnosed with cancer but had not spent the money on herself.