A BUSINESSWOMAN'S desperate bid to keep her struggling company afloat yesterday landed her behind bars.

Gina Marie McLean was jailed for 18 months after a court heard she invented invoices for goods supposedly supplied by her business, MJD Packaging, in St Helen Auckland, County Durham, before it went bust in 2006.

Durham Crown Court heard that factoring company the IGF Group paid up to 80 per cent of the amounts claimed, although fictitious sums were included among genuine invoices submitted.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said there was conflict between the Crown and defence over the total involved.

Although it was accepted that various amounts had been repaid, the defence claimed the total unlawfully gained by McLean, on behalf of MJD, was £270,000, while the prosecution put the figure at £335,000.

Mr Newcombe said it had been suspected of being higher, adding: "When the premises were visited, a large pile of documents was found under the heading fictitious' for sums of almost £1m, the inference being that it was the amount of fictitious business her company was dealing in.

"She was submitting the IGF Group with invoices for what were supposedly trade debts owed to her and they would advance her the money.

"The sums paid were put in her personal bank account and some amounts were passed to MJD as if it was money paid back to the company."

Mr Newcombe said that it was McLean who told her accountant what had happened as a company audit was about to be carried out in 2006.

Police were informed and she made full admissions, expressing remorse.

McLean, 39, of Lyne Road, Spennymoor, County Durham, of previous good character, admitted dishonestly obtaining a money transfer, to a value unknown, at an earlier hearing.

Zoe Passfield, mitigating, said the offending developed from initial genuine invoice claims as McLean struggled with cash flow difficulties.

Miss Passfield said McLean was the subject of a 12-year bankruptcy order and had lost her home and good name.

Despite pleas by Miss Passfield for a suspended sentence, given McLean's previous clean record and her co-operation in revealing her activities, judge Mr Justice Wilkie said: "It's too serious and over too long a term to justify that action."

The prosecution did not pursue a charge of false accounting against co-accused, 32-year-old David Hogg, of Westerhope, Newcastle, and a formal not guilty verdict was recorded at an earlier hearing.