A WOMAN who swindled thousands of pounds while working for a Witney business has been ordered to pay back £25,000 in compensation.

Teresa Gardner, of Thyme Close, Banbury, had already admitted one count of theft by employee and one of false accounting after stealing tens of thousands from Denis Green carpets and fabrics in Mill Walk.

At her sentencing at Oxford Crown Court in March, the 63-year old was given a 22-month jail term suspended for two years.

At that hearing the court heard that Gardner, who had worked at the shop for 16 years, had used her position in charge of accounts and bank takings to scam the firm.

Gardner secretly adjusted credit card statements to cover up the thefts carried out between April 2013 and November 2014.

In a statement read out to the court, business owner Richard ‘Stan’ Green said he feared the real amount of cash stolen could be higher because Gardner had destroyed the books from previous years.

Gardner did not attend a proceeds of crime hearing at the same court today to recover her ill-gotten gains.

In her absence, prosecutor Kate Fortescue demanded a compensation order to recover the money totalling £25,908.14.

Judge Ian Pringle QC accepted the order and said that no additional court costs would be requested.