A TRUSTED member of staff at an Army base orchestrated a near-£40,000 scheme to hide a deficit of stock for soldier recruits.

Karen Hustwick was employed in the stores as an assistant accountant to equip trainees at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

She was arrested last year after financial irregularities were found in the books of the Presidential Regimental Institution store.

There was a stock deficit of more than 1,000 pairs of training shoes worth £37,905 at Vimy Barracks, where Hustwick worked.

Hustwick, of Harley Lane, Catterick Garrison, was originally charged with fraud between October 2007 and September last year.

The 49-year-old yesterday pleaded not guilty to the charge, but admitted false accounting during the same two-year period.

She will return to Teesside Crown Court on April 28 to be sentenced after the Probation Service prepares a background report.

Charles Knowles, for Hustwick, said she was of previous good character and “circumstances existed at the time of the offending”.

Judge Tony Briggs gave Hustwick bail until her next appearance, and said: “There seems to be a lot of personal difficulty at the time.”

The charge to which Hustwick pleaded guilty specifies that she “falsified a document required for accounting purposes”.

A basis of plea says she made no financial gain from the crime, but she accepted manipulating records to hide failings.

A loss was caused to the Ministry of Defence, but last night they refused to comment on the case or Hustwick’s position.