A WOMAN siphoned off £190,000 from her employers by paying money into her own bank account, a court heard.

Amanda Capper, of Hartside Road, Nookside, Sunderland, worked as a finance administrator at OSO Hot Water UK, at the Sunderland Enterprise Park, Southwick.

Her scam was discovered when she put an incorrect number on a fax to the bank and it contacted the company to query the payment.

Capper, 36, admitted four charges of obtaining a money transfer by deception and two attempting to do so.

A further 25 offences were taken into consideration and she was jailed for two years at Durham Crown Court yesterday.

The court heard how Capper, a mother-of-three, had made about 30 payments into her own account and one held by her husband. The payments started in July 1997 and ranged from £800 to £17,000.

When she was arrested, Capper, who is also known as Bryant, said she needed the money to buy a £185,000 house.

Jamie Adams, mitigating, said Capper felt a failure earlier in her life when she gave birth to an illegitimate child.

The child had to be adopted and, since then, Capper needed to be seen as a successful wife and mother.

"She is sorry for what she did and is not, basically, a bad woman," he said.

No application was made to confiscate the money