Sisters' £250k Wolverhampton bank account thefts
Two sisters stole more than £260,000 from the accounts of customers at the Black Country Barclays branch where both had worked, a court heard.
Personal assistant Zahirah Bibi secretly set up three bogus accounts at the branch in Queen Square, Wolverhampton before losing her job, said prosecutor Mr Mohammed Jafeez.
The divorced 25-year-old recruited sister Tahira Khan, 33, who was a cashier at the branch, to move £261,500 from the savings of customers into the accounts, Mr Jafeez told Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The next day a failed bid was made to pay £35,000 of the money into an account of another of their sisters and £8,000 was withdrawn through cashpoints or over the counter at other branches, the court was told.
All the money was recovered except £21,229 which Bibi covered with a cheque brought to court yesterday.
Mr Trevor Meegan, defending Bibi, admitted the crime was "daring and recklessness" and orchestrated by greed. Mr Nicholas Berry, for pregnant mother of four Khan, said she had made an "error of judgment".
Bibi, of Probert Road, Oxley, and Khan of Glentworth Gardens, Whitmore Reans, both admitted conspiracy to defraud Barclays.
Judge Michael Challinor jailed Bibi for two years. Khan received a 12 month prison sentence suspended as the judge considered her children, health and the pressure from her sister.
