A GRANDMOTHER was jailed for 16 months after stealing more than £50,000 from her employers and using it to go on holiday.
Tina Hardwick, aged 38, of Schwyll Cottage, Ogmore-by-Sea, had previously admitted the offence of theft from her employer.
A former accounts clerk for Clearway Water Treatment, of Village Farm Industrial Estate, Pyle, Hardwick stole a total of £50,353.69 between 2004 and 2006.
Jeremy Jenkins, prosecuting, said the mother-of-three was arrested on December 18 and admitted the offence.
He told Cardiff Crown Court: “She was an accounts clerk in a position of trust. She had access to pre-signed company cheques.”
Hardwick, who has since been employed as an accounts clerk by another firm, used the cheques to pay sums between £1,000 and £5,000 into her own debit account on “multiple occasions”.
Mr Jenkins said: “She took the money on a regular basis as she became overdrawn and spent it accordingly and then repeated the offences again and again.”
The court heard that Hardwick’s family was living well above its means and the cash was used for holidays in Budapest and Canada.
“Her husband was totally unaware of what she was doing,” said Mr Jenkins.
“She explained to him the extra money was bonus from her employers.”
Claire Wilks, defending, said her client’s marriage had broken down since the offence was committed.
“It is, for Tina Hardwick and her family, a very sad day,” she said.
Her husband, a former cattle farmer, was also arrested but later released without charge.
“The explanation for her behaviour is that the family were living beyond their means,” said Miss Wilks.
“When the credit card debt got too much she used the cheque from the company.”
For the last year of employment with Clearway Water Treatment, Hardwick stopped stealing after she managed to control her debts.
The court heard that one of Hardwick's children had a tumour on both their arm and foot and needed to undergo a high-risk operation.
Miss Wilks said that if Hardwick was jailed the children’s father would lose his job in London as a result of returning to Wales to care for them.
Recorder Robert Britton said: “You were in a position of trust to provide cheques and you used them to pay off your overdraft and go on holidays.
“The sum in the region of £50,000 is a huge amount for any company to have to sustain.”
