Shop assistant stole £3,750
She became addicted to gambling machines, court told
A YOUNG shop assistant breached the trust of her employers by stealing £3,750 to feed her gambling addiction.
The former barmaid from Thatcham also had an alcohol problem, Reading magistrates heard on Thursday.
In the dock was 23-year-old Corinne Deacon, who lives at Vincent Road.
Hazrat Ali, prosecuting, said bosses at Sainsbury’s in Hectors Way, Newbury, investigated after they discovered £750 was missing from the till.
She added: “The in-store CCTV showed Miss Deacon open up the till even though she wasn’t serving anyone and she had no reason to do so.”
Miss Deacon was seen to stuff wads of notes into her pocket and, the court heard, she was observed to repeat this on several other occasions.
Ms Ali went on: “It then became apparent that scratch cards had gone missing and that these had been activated.
“Further investigation took place and £3,000 worth were found to be missing.”
Miss Deacon was arrested, the court heard, and initially replied “no comment” to detectives’ questions.
But confronted with the CCTV evidence she broke down and confessed.
Ms Ali said: “She became very upset.”
Miss Deacon admitted committing theft by employee between June 4 and July 13.
A probation officer told magistrates: “She is very ashamed and regrets her actions very much – ‘big time’, in her words.
“She has always worked – but she became addicted to gambling machines.
“She is not gambling at the moment because she has no money, but she feels she is still addicted.
“She has also had a problem with binge drinking and has an addictive personality.”
Adonis Daniel, defending, said Miss Deacon’s previous offending had been alcohol related and there were no convictions for offences of dishonesty.
After retiring to confer with colleagues, presiding magistrate Viv McCallum told Miss Deacon: “Obviously you should be under no illusion about the seriousness of this offence – there was a very high degree of breach of trust.
“You planned to do it over a period of time and it is not a victimless crime.
“However we’re taken into account the fact this is your first conviction for dishonesty, your early guilty plea and the fact that you seem to have an addictive personality.
“We hope that’s something you will address.”
Miss Deacon was made subject to a 12-month community order and ordered to complete a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement and to undertake 160 hours of unpaid community work.
No order was made for costs and an otherwise statutory victim services surcharge was waived in favour of a compensation order.
The court ordered Miss Deacon to repay the £3,750 to Sainsbury’s in full.