Saturday, September 16, 2006

GAMBLING grandmother Lorraine Wilson will find herself behind bars every
weekend over the next few months.The manager of a Co-op store who stole
£56,000 in takings to fund her gambling addiction has been given a new
sentencing option which is being pioneered in Herts.Judge Stephen Warner at
St Albans Crown Court handed her a 36-week jail sentence but said that 72
days must be spent behind bars at weekends.Wilson, of Shenley Lane, London
Colney, will report to Morton Hall Prison in Lincoln every Friday at 5pm and
remain there until Sunday afternoons.In July Wilson, aged 45, of Shenley
Lane, London Colney, pleaded guilty to theft in the Crown Court but
sentencing was deferred to see if she was suitable for an intermittent
custodial sentence.She was manager at the Co-op in How Wood near Park Street
when the thefts occurred. She was the only member of staff with access to
the safe and used her position of trust to take up to £1,000 a time and blow
it on fruit machines.She originally admitted the theft of just over £32,000
but asked for a similar offence involving the theft of nearly £24,000 to be
taken into consideration.Alexander Krikler, prosecuting, said that in May
this year her bosses became concerned at the amount of money purportedly in
the shop's safe which had not been banked.

According to accounting paperwork around £63,000 was being kept in the safe
but when it was opened just under £8,000 was found inside.

Wilson was interviewed and admitted taking the money for more than a year to
fund a gambling addiction. She was immediately suspended from her job and
the police were called in.

Charles Judge, defending, said Wilson had no previous convictions. She has
since found other employment and her new bosses knew about the theft. He
said she was also receiving help from Gamblers Anonymous in her fight to
beat her addiction.

Mr Judge said that taking the money had been the culmination of a number of
personal and family problems. She had made no attempt to try to hide what
she had done and no-one else was involved.

Passing sentence Judge Warner told her she had pleaded guilty to a serious
offence but she had taken positive steps to put her life in order and deal
with her gambling problems.

As well as her weekend jail stays, she was also made the subject of a
supervision order.