Jail for shop manager who stole takings

A shop manager from Andreas has been sent to prison after being caught helping herself to the takings.

55-year-old Michelle Atherton was sentenced at Douglas Courthouse yesterday after previously admitting stealing between November 2014 and May this year.

Over the 18-month period the general manager of the SPAR store on Parliament Street in Ramsey stole £4,251 which belonged to Heron and Brearley.
 
Part of her role included banking the takings - on May 20th this year the company's accountant flagged a discrepancy which triggered an audit of the shop's finances.
 
Her advocate told the court she'd taken the money after getting into financial difficulty saying 'it just got totally out of hand' adding she was 'deeply upset and ashamed of her behaviour'.

In her Social Enquiry Report Atherton described it as the 'worst mistake' of her life.
 
Sentencing her Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said she considered it to be a 'serious breach of trust' telling her 'you can no longer be described as an honest person'.
 
She said there were no grounds to suspend the sentence and imposed a 10-week period of custody - Atherton was also ordered to pay back the money she'd taken.