A mother-of-two who worked at a Skewen shop for over a decade has been jailed after stealing more than £40,000 from the tills in what the judge called a “brazen campaign of theft.” 📉
Rebecca Hanford, 44, from Parc Wern, Skewen, manipulated the shop’s figures between October 2020 and July 2021 to pocket cash that should have gone into the safe at Arbourne’s shop on New Road.
The theft came to light when owners noticed discrepancies between recorded figures and actual cash amounts, occurring on days when Hanford was working. When challenged after a sting operation where £300 was found missing, she initially denied responsibility before producing the cash from her purse.
While the prosecution proved thefts totalling £40,431, the shop owners believe the true figure could be as high as £100,000.
Hanford claimed the money went on household bills during financial difficulties that coincided with the Covid pandemic and “a toxic relationship.” However, Judge Geraint Walters said her account “simply does not add up,” noting she admitted to spending £100 weekly on lottery tickets and scratch cards, adding: “I call that an addiction.”
In their statement to the court, the shop owners said they had “respected and valued” their working relationship with Hanford and “would like to think they had been good employers.” They added that her actions caused suspicion to fall on colleagues, putting their jobs in jeopardy, and said it was clear she “had not given a thought to the impact her deceit and lies would have on those she worked with.”
With a one-third discount for her guilty plea, Hanford was sentenced to 12 months in prison. She will serve up to half that sentence in custody.
“I’m afraid to say there no avoiding an immediate term of imprisonment,” Judge Walters told Hanford in the dock.
