Bank clerk stole for Barbados trip (From Oxford Mail)

Bank clerk stole for Barbados trip

10:00am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in News By Thom Airs

A BANK clerk stole from the accounts of an 83-year-old and a dementia sufferer to pay for a trip to Barbados.

Marlene Williams had worked at Barclays in Cowley for eight years before she began siphoning money from the two customers.

In all, the 57-year-old took £8,547 in four transactions between April and July last year.

She was jailed at Oxford Crown Court on Friday after earlier admitting four counts of theft.

The court heard Williams, of Woodruff Close, Blackbird Leys, instantly confessed to police upon her arrest and is continuing to pay back the money through her pension.

Prosecutor Nigel Daly said she told officers the money was used for general bills and to fund a trip to Barbados for her daughter’s wedding.

Paul Harrison, defending, said his client, whose previous sentencing hearing was adjourned after she suffered a panic attack, has been diagnosed with “very significant depression”.

He added: “She comes from a large family, a close family, and a very respectable family, but a large amount of responsibility has been put on her shoulders to care for members of her family, particularly grandchildren.”

Mr Harrison said Williams had been an Argos cashier before working at the bank and was “literally terrified of the consequences (of her offending)”.

Judge Anthony King jailed her for 60 days. He said: “This is a very serious breach of trust.

“Your job involved the handling of money. You were there to be trusted in the handling of money.

“Your sole responsibility was to make sure the money didn’t, accidentally or otherwise, go missing.

“You breached that trust.”

He added: “The money you took was from accounts of people you had quite clearly targeted because you knew the two persons concerned as customers of the bank.

“One aged 83 and the other was suffering from severe dementia.

“You had deliberately taken care to use accounts which you must have thought were less likely to be detected.”