Secretary stole £16k from residents of flats

Claire Gallagher stole the cash after taking over as secretary of the firm responsible for maintaining Garrick Court in Lichfield.

Nick Tatlow, prosecuting, said the 35-year-old, of Christ Church Lane, Lichfield, used blank cheques to pay money into her own bank account over a two-year period. The swindle was discovered in June this year when residents were told there was only £20 left in their account.

Gallagher admitted a charge of fraud and was given a 26 week jail sentence suspended for a year and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work.

Judge Michael Cullum told her: "You obtained about £16,000 by, in effect, cashing blank cheques in a calculated fashion.

Mr Tatlow said Gallagher used to live in the block of flats, where each resident made a regular payment to a service company set up for themselves to pay for upkeep costs.

She became secretary of the company in August 2007 but carried on with the job, even after moving out in September 2009, in a joint capacity with another resident.

When he died in 2010, she was left in sole charge and shortly after began taking money.

The amounts ranged from £40 to £1,500, using blank cheques either countersigned by another resident or forged by her. She was arrested on June 15 this year and confessed.

She told officers she was ashamed of herself - she had been under stress in her full time job and had worries about her husband's health.

"She said she had only taken the money to 'get by' and not spent it on any extravagant lifestyle," Mr Tatlow told Stafford Crown Court.

Peter Arnold, defending, said her employers knew about her crime and would try to keep her on but there was no guarantee of it.