A YOUNG woman who systematically stole £10,000 from her employer over a period of three years has been jailed for eight months.

Kathleen Elliott, 26, of Towers Street, Ulverston, pleaded guilty to four charges of theft when she appeared at Furness magistrates court and asked for 98 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Prosecutor John Appleby told the court that Elliott worked as a sales assistant for butcher Stuart Higginson, of Main Street, Grange-over-Sands.

In July, Mr Higginson was trying to account for shortfalls in his accounts and, after checking his accounting procedures and speaking to staff, began to suspect Elliott.

On July 7 she was arrested and confessed immediately that she had stolen £60 from the till that day and described stealing £60-a-day over the previous three days.

Later she told police she started to steal three years ago and, while she did not know the precise amounts, it was never more than £240 a week.

Elliott admitted her method was to input into the till only part of a customers' order and keep the balance for herself.

Mr Appleby said she stole the cash to pay off debts, including several thousand pounds on catalogues and other loans.

In mitigation, Andrew Hollins-Gibson said Elliott had started to steal "a little bit here and there but it gradually escalated".

She had been living with her fiance, with whom she intended to buy a house, and she was responsible for a lot of the expenses.

Sentencing a sobbing Elliott, chairman of the bench David Forbes said the prison term reflected her "breach of trust over a period of time" and said there were no exceptional circumstances to justify suspending it.