TWO members of staff took thousands of pounds in cash from shoppers when they wheeled out an extra till - but pocketed the money that went through it.

The cash machine was a spare which was usually kept in an upstairs office at the Yorkshire Trading Company store on the High Street in Redcar.

Store manager Graham Kast and supervisor Carrie Stapley used it to pocket £4,644 to solve their separate financial problems, a court heard yesterday.

But their scam came to light when the company discovered some paperwork showing that the extra till had been used, prosecutor Jenny Haigh told a judge.

Miss Haigh told Teesside Crown Court that the crimes were a repeated breach of trust, and the pair stole between £8.98 and £650 a time, on 12 occasions.

Kast, 37, was arrested first, and then Stapley, 46, who initially denied the matter but went on to admit her guilt. Both were of previous good character.

Judge Howard Crowson heard how the pair had both been fired, but found new jobs only to lose them when details leaked out about their pending court case.

Anthony Cornberg, for Kast, said he was a father-of-three and £100 a week was supposed to be taken from his wages to support them.

But he found that the deductions had not been made, leaving him disappointed as he wanted to buy new clothes for the children, said his lawyer.

Martin Scarborough, defending Stapley, said her husband was ill and he had lost his job, and they had to leave their home, and their finances were dire.

Kast, of Buttermere Road, Grangetown, and Stapley, of California Road, Eston, both near Middlesbrough, said that they were anxious to pay back the money.

Judge Crowson told them: “There was a time when you would have gone straight downstairs for 18 months, but now there are different guidelines.”

The pair were given six-month jail sentences, suspended for a year, and were ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay £250 after they admitted theft.