A BANK manager jailed for stealing more than a quarter of a million pounds now faces losing her home as the authorities try to recover some of the money.

A judge on Tuesday made a confiscation order to seize all of Lesley Austin's assets and gave the shamed 48-year-old three months to pay the £56,800.

Austin, of Lockyer Close, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, made £229,575 from her crimes, but a court heard she cannot explain what it was spent on.

There is £55,500 equity in her home, and she has a £1,300 car, prosecutor Paul Abrahams told Judge Deborah Sherwin at Teesside Crown Court.

The three-month deadline could be extended as Austin is still behind bars, and might find it difficult to sell her home and vehicle, said Judge Sherwin.

The married mother could have her three-year sentence - imposed at the same court last December - extended by 12 months if she fails to meet the demands.

Austin admitted nine charges of theft and six of false accounting which related the accounts of customers at the branch of NatWest in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

Her lawyer said she "cracked" when she started her six-year theft spree in 2008, but a judge seemed unable to believe the vast amount could not be accounted for.

Recorder James Adkins told her: "You must have spent it on yourself. You had the ability to move that money, and you were in a high degree of trust."

Prosecutor Paul Abrahams said she took money from the accounts of five customers - some of who were deceased, and the savings were pending probate.

Simon Perkins, mitigating, said she had been suffering from depression and said: "The crack happened a long time ago and this offending is a feature of that.

"She may well have been suffering from depression or undue stress from her employment and her private life."

Mr Perkins said the banking collapse seven years ago and "ever-increasing financial targets" took their toll.

"She was holding down this work while caring for a young son who suffers from some difficulties," he said.

"There should be some recognition of the stresses and the strains of her home life . . . she is not a threat to another soul on this earth.

"She has not enjoyed anything like the unqualified support of her husband and the father of her child."

The judge told Austin at the time: "The offending continued over some period. Depression does not justify the plundering of those bank accounts in the way that you did."