Barclays worker Rachael Martin jailed for theft
A woman who stole nearly £50,000 in two months while working for Barclays has been jailed for a year.
Rachael Martin, 24, from Tremayne Road in St Austell, Cornwall, "spent money like water" after getting a job with the bank, Truro Crown Court was told.
When arrested, Martin told police she had earned the money working as a prostitute. She later admitted theft.
Martin, a law graduate, stole the money after she began working at the Liskeard branch of Barclays in March 2010.
Prosecuting, Iain Leadbetter told the court that Martin's role was to deal with agents from the Provident, taking their cheques in exchange for cash.
However, between 2 September and 29 October 2010, he said she had stolen £46,000 after entering details relating to previously banked cheques into the system.
Her extravagances included spending £1,687.95 at the Windsor Place dental surgery in Liskeard and £500 on unspecified cosmetic surgery.
Her counsel, Michael Melville-Shreeve, told the court that his client's behaviour had been described as manic and she had previously demonstrated signs of "sexual disinhibition and self-destruction".
Sentencing, Recorder Jeremy Wright said Martin had demonstrated a "concerted, clever and serious breach of trust".
He said he gave Martin credit for pleading guilty to the theft - on the day her trial was due to start - and said he had to make a judgment on whether society's interests in jailing Martin prevailed over those of her eight-year-old son.
But he told her: "Considering the seriousness of the crime... it seems to me a mockery if I didn't send you to prison right away."