THE daughter and sister-in-law of a businesswoman who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from her employers lost their homes yesterday because they were bought with her ill-gotten gains.

Mary Blair, 54, was sentenced to five years in prison in January for stealing more than £800,000 from a Darlington car dealership where she worked as finance director.

Yesterday, at a hearing at Teesside Crown Court, Judge John Walford ordered the confiscation of the realisable assets from her daughter, Claire Bartlett's home, in Chapelhope Close, Darlington, and a house belonging to her sister-in-law, Beverley Grimes, in Mellanby Crescent, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

The deposits on both homes were paid for with tainted gifts of money given by Blair to her unknowing relatives, the court was told.

In the case of Mrs Bartlett, mortgage repayments made from her salary were also from tainted funds.

She ran a Darlington bridalwear business, Manhattan House, with her mother, which was propped up with the stolen cash, Judge Walford ruled.

The assets remaining from the home Blair shared with her husband, David, in Summerhouse Grove, Darlington, an endowment policy and a £160 watch she bought him for his birthday were also confiscated by the court.

In total, Blair's victims at PMB Motors and South Cleveland Garages will recoup £170,030 of the £819,200 she admitted stealing.

But they believe the true amount she took over a five-year period was closer to £1.3m.

The court heard that the houses in Chapelhope Close and Mellanby Crescent had doubled in value since they were bought.

Judge Walford said it would be wrong for family members, albeit innocent ones, to benefit from Blair's dishonesty.

He said Mrs Bartlett's husband, Graham, though not named on the house deeds, probably had a beneficial interest in the Chapelhope Close property.

Mr Bartlett plans to apply to the High Court for a declaration of that interest.

Former PMB owner John McArdle said after the verdict that he planned to take civil action against other parties involved.

"What we will get from this is nowhere near what she took, but I think the due process of law has produced a very fair result," he said.

Blair's brother, Edward - Mrs Grimes' husband - and his son Christopher, both of Bousfield Crescent, Newton Aycliffe, were earlier convicted of laundering some of the stolen money. Mrs Grimes and Mr Bartlett were cleared by a jury of money laundering.