Sandra Preston, 42, used her position of trust to pocket a staggering £62,722.99 in just two months from the Driffield station's PayPoint system.
She took the cash at 6am when opening up - but her stealing was uncovered when the petrol station's owner came to sell the business and discovered the huge shortfall.


A petrol station manageress who stole an astonishing £1,000 a day from her employers to fund her online bingo gambling addiction has been jailed.

Thieving Sandra Preston, 42, used her position of trust to pocket £62,722.99 in just two months from the petrol station on Middle Street South, Driffield.

She took the cash at 6am when opening up - but her stealing was uncovered when the petrol station's owner came to sell the business and discovered the huge shortfall.

Hull Crown Court heard yesterday how previously well-respected Preston had become hooked on gambling after the break-up of her marriage and pumped the illicit loot into online accounts with Mecca Bingo and Foxy Bingo.

Because of her addiction her life was now in ruin.

Jailing Preston for six months, Recorder Anton Lodge QC said: "Up until you started this fraud you were a woman of good character and a woman of honour. You had led a common, honest, good life.

"The sad thing is when you got this job, you discovered a way of stealing money from your employer. You were able to misuse the PayPoint system and between August 16 and October 19 last year, you stole and defrauded your employer of over 62,000 pounds. That is a lot of money in a short time."

The PayPoint system accepts household bill payments and allows customers to pay for mobile phone top-ups, but Preston had been creaming it off without putting anything back in.

The Recorder added: "You took it to fund your gambling. You came into gambling late in life, that gambling has caused you dishonour and disgrace. The amount you have defrauded is so great that an immediate sentence of imprisonment has to be passed."

Defending bespectacled Preston, Anil Murray said: "A few years ago her marriage failed and she moved in with a friend. This friend's mother was a keen bingo player and encouraged her to play. Until then she had had no interest in it but she became addicted.

"It is an activity in which one can lose money and lose it fast – one doesn't even have to be in the same room. She initially paid to play herself, then lost so much she went into debt on credit cards.
It became an addiction and last August she began to steal from work."
Mr Murray explained that Preston would simply take varying amounts of money from the garage's PayPoint system while alone in the morning. During the course of a day she would sometimes steal £50, sometimes as much £490 - always remaining under the system's £500 limit per transaction.
This would then be ploughed into her two online accounts – and games would be played by a computer without her needing to be present.

Mr Murray continued: "She didn't have any idea how much she was taking. Any winnings were put on the next stake. This wasn't sophisticated, she always took the money in the morning when no-one else was about.

"Her life is a complete ruin because of what she has done. She has nothing, she has no house and £14,000 debt. She is deeply remorseful - she was in the grip of a gambling addiction.

"She has no job and is on invalidity benefit due to depression." He added that it was possible to spend £165 per hour playing bingo online and allowing the computer to check the cards.

Prosecuting barrister, Charlotte Baines, explained how Preston's thefts were uncovered at the garage - which was less than a mile from her home in Driffield.

Business owner Thomas Megginson decided to sell up in October, and when accounts were drawn up he became aware of a very large shortfall.

Mrs Baines said: "He became concerned but had to stand the loss in order for him to sell the business. It was soon identified that this defendant was responsible."

Preston, who has no previous criminal convictions, was arrested on November 3 at the garage. She made a full admission to police.

She told the police that some of the cash had gone to a friend, but the vast majority had been used to play online bingo.

A proceeds of crime hearing to recover the cash, which is still owed to Mr Megginson, will be held in December.