A SHOP thief who sailed the world on luxury cruises while her victim was reduced to poverty has escaped jail.

Diane Lathlean helped herself to thousands of pounds worth of stock “with a smile on her face” after being left in charge by unsuspecting Fiona Senior.

Village postmistress Mrs Senior and her family lived off mouldy bread while she sank her post office pay into keeping the retail side of the business in Ampleforth, near Helmsley, afloat.

Meanwhile, her part-time assistant and closest pal Lathlean, 50, was sailing around Hawaii, the Bahamas and the Mediterranean, and spending Christmas in California.

Lathlean denied the theft of £3,050 worth of stock between 2008 and 2012 but was convicted by Scarborough magistrates in December.

And a judge at York Crown Court has now handed her a six month suspended sentence.

She was also ordered to do 140 hours of unpaid work, pay £300 court costs and an £80 surcharge.

Lathlean, who has already repaid the Seniors £3,050 for the stock, showed no emotion when sentence was passed.

The Seniors have also received a £28,000 settlement for alleged theft of money and goods by Lathlean in a previous civil case.

Lathlean also has a previous criminal record for theft from an employer in 1989, it was revealed.

After the case, Mrs Senior claimed that it “made a mockery” of the decision by the magistrates to send Lathlean to crown court for sentencing.

She said: "This was an extremely light sentence bearing in mind it is not the first conviction for theft from an employer.

"However, the justice system is the law of the land and we have to abide by this.

"Both the civil case settlement and the guilty verdict can now give us closure on the matter.”

Her husband added: "I don't know why she got such a light sentence. We are just glad it's over because it's been a very stressful time.

"The business is thriving now and all the problems it had are over. The customers are disgusted at what Lathlean did.

"Most are just happy their village post office and shop are still here. They nearly went to the wall. At least we can move on now.

“She went on at least ten cruises while we were on the rocks.

“At one stage we were only a week from going under and I had to take a second job as a chimney sweep to prop the business up.

?“We put £43,000 into the business while we lived like paupers and she was cruising the world.”