Post office worker avoids jail term after stealing 3k from work

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A POST office worker has escaped an immediate jail sentence after pleading guilty to stealing more than £3,000 from work in two months to pay her bills.

Rosie Houghton of Canal Street, St Helens was sentenced to an 18-week prison sentence suspended for a year after pleading guilty at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court.

The 21-year-old admitted taking a total of £3,047 from the post-office on Main Street in Billinge where she had worked for 10 months.

She was caught after the owner’s son, Ashley Williams, who worked alongside Houghton, watched the shop's CCTV. He saw her taking £500 from the safe and a further £270 from the till and placing the money in her handbag.

Earlier CCTV footage showed her acting in a similar fashion on five earlier Saturdays, said David Evans, prosecuting.

She was then suspended from her job and admitted the thefts that took place between April 29 and June 24 this year, saying to police that she had used it to buy food and other items, including cat insurance.

A probation officer, who had interviewed Houghton, told the court that her grandfather, who passed away last week, had been seriously ill at the time of the offences and “she wasn’t thinking straight.

“She comes across as very remorseful but has no real reason why she committed these offences.”

Chris Bivon, defending, said that Houghton has learning difficulties, is partly deaf and will have trouble getting another job.

She now lives with her partner but lived alone at the time and after her monthly outgoings were met, she only had £150 to survive on.

Imposing the sentence, the chairman of the bench said that she had worked in a small office and there was a risk of other members of staff falling under suspicion.

She said: “I do not accept your personal circumstances justify this offending, particularly in breach of trust.”

Houghton was also ordered to pay back £3,047 compensation at £5 a week, carry out 100 hours unpaid work and 20 days rehabilitation.