AN ACCOUNTANT has been jailed after fiddling more than £100,000 from her employers.

Zoe Nowell worked at Docdata, in Witney, for three years and siphoned off tens of thousands of pounds into her own bank account over an 11-month period.

The 27-year-old was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court yesterday having earlier admitted one count of fraud and one of theft.

Nowell took £105,659.50p between November 2009 and October 2010. In the same period she also took about £4,000 in ‘capital bond vouchers’, which can be spent at some high street stores.

Prosecutor Meyrick Williams said Nowell, of Lincoln Close, Bicester, was an assistant accountant at the e-commerce company when it underwent a restructuring in 2009 and 2010.

The removal of two senior directors and a financial controller gave the defendant “additional responsibility, but reduced supervision”, Mr Williams said.

Nowell became responsible for administering the pay roll, invoices, balance sheets and petty cash.

Mr Williams said she would transfer company funds to her own bank account on a “weekly basis” and “created false paper trails to conceal her dishonesty”.

Her crimes were uncovered when a newly-installed financial controller, Simon Smith, became suspicious in September 2010.

After her arrest on October 6 that year, Nowell admitted the offences to police during two interviews.

Mr Williams said: “Some of the money (was spent) in relation to her (unemployed) husband and to debts. She also purchased a number of motorbikes and a car.”

Rachel Bright, defending, said her client had returned about £6,000 in cash and “vehicles worth in the region of £12,000”.

She added: “It would be fair to say, through her own fault entirely, she has ruined her life, she’s ruined her reputation, she’s lost her marriage, she’s at no risk of re-offending.”

Judge Anthony King jailed Nowell for two years.

He said: “This was a fraud upon your employers, who had imposed trust in you.”

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing to recover more of the money is scheduled to take place in July.