Secretary who turned to crime in £10k theft bid

Since then Amanda Edwards, now 57, has tried to steal from three different employers, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

She was jailed for 12 weeks in July 2015 after the second of these offences but that did not stop her from continuing to break the law, said Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting.

Edwards was employed part time as a secretary at Claridge Electricals in Walsall High Street for several months last year.

A cheque that had gone missing from the firm was later used by her in a clumsy attempt to pay £10,000 into her bank account.

She drafted the cheque herself but eagle eyed bank staff realised the handwriting on the paying-in slip was suspiciously similar to that on the cheque which, it later emerged, carried a false signature, said Mr Soulsby.

It was then discovered that a stop had been put on the cheque when the company spotted that it was missing.

Interest was further aroused because the proposed £10,000 payment would have been out of step with the modest transactions normally conducted through her account, the court was told.

The cheque was not honoured and the police were alerted in November.

Edwards from Lichfield Road, Walsall, pleaded guilty to the theft of the cheque and false representation in the way it had been completed. Mr Soulsby said: “This had been doomed to failure as long as Claridge had a decent checking system.”

The defendant, who has four grown up children and a long term partner, had since confessed: ‘I don’t know why I did it. I am losing myself and I don’t know why,’ the court was told.

Miss Sharonjit Bahia, defending, said: “She has been visibly upset and is terrified of returning to prison.” Edwards was now under the care of a community psychiatric nurse for anxiety and depression, she added.

Miss Bahia concluded: “Nobody would criticise the court if they imposed an immediate custodial sentence but during the last ten years this woman has suddenly started to commit offences.”

Edwards was remanded on unconditional bail until a date to be fixed while a pre sentence report is prepared.

Recorder Miss Helen Malcolm QC told the defendant: “I make it clear that all sentencing options are open.”