A 28-YEAR-OLD wo- man has been convicted of stealing more than £5,500 from the jet aircraft firm which sacked her.

Grace Folan, of Oxford Road, Kidlington, was yesterday found guilty of three counts of theft from Hangar 8 Ltd between April and July last year.

The trained accountant looked stunned as the first verdict was read out and then shook her head in silence.

It took the jury three hours and 47 minutes of deliberating to reach its unanimous verdicts, following a two-day trial.

Edward Culver, prosecuting, said Folan was the company’s payment controller and had been in “a position of great trust”.

He told the jury she had worked at the aircraft management firm, based at Oxford Airport in Kidlington, until she was fired on July 4 last year because of “concerns about her time-keeping”.

Mr Culver said two payments intended for the company’s suppliers on April 19 and July 3 were paid into Folan’s bank account.

A further payment of £2,500 was made on June 12 into the account of her then boyfriend Jon Mahon, who has admitted handling stolen goods.

The barrister said: “None of the monies taken have been paid back.”

Mr Culver told Judge Patrick Eccles the starting point for theft where a “high degree of trust” was involved is two years in prison.

Folan argued during the trial that the payments must have been made by mistake following a power cut at the company.

She will now be sentenced, along with Mahon, at the crown court on October 14 this year.

Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.