A HARD-UP shop worker thought her luck was in when her beautician friend asked her to bank takings on her way home from having her nails done, a court heard yesterday.

Instead of paying the money and cheques into the bank, Maria Gilby, 23, a mother of a four-year-old girl, pocketed the £55 cash and disposed of five cheques totalling £100.

She insisted she had done nothing wrong even when police called at her home, Harrogate magistrates heard.

Gilby, of Doublegates Green, Ripon, pleaded guilty to stealing £155 from Jane Champion - after initially denying the offence.

Prosecutor Alison Whiteley said self-employed Ms Champion, who worked from her Ripon home, had been grooming Gilby's nails and those of her mother and sister for five years.

On April 27, after Gilby's treatment was finished she was asked to take the cash to the bank, including her own cheque for £35.

Gilby agreed but the money was never deposited. When challenged, Gilby initially claimed she had paid the money over the counter but then changed her story and said that because of a queue she had used a paying-in box on the bank wall.

Ian McLellan, defending, said Gilby, who was of previous good character, had been short of money and was extremely embarrassed by what she had done.

Gilby was fined £150 and ordered to pay £145 costs and £55 compensation.