A WAGES clerk stole more than £5,000 from her employer to pay for her daughter to go to a nursery, a court heard.

Natalie Jenkins, 24, who has no previous convictions, set up a bogus wages account to take the money over an 11-month period, prosecutor Liz Pearson told Cardiff crown court.

At the time, Jenkins, of Milner Street, Newport, was "teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown", the court was told.

Jenkins previously appeared before Blackwood magistrates and admitted three charges of theft and one of false accounting. She was committed to the crown court for sentence.

She received a community rehabilitation order for two years and a community punishment order for 60 hours.

She was also told to pay the losers £5,000 compensation at £50 a week. Judge John Griffith Williams told her: "You took advantage of the trust imposed in you by your employer.

"There was an element of a vicious circle. Once you embarked upon your conduct it must have been very difficult to stop."

Miss Pearson said that the defendant was employed by Thames Valley Construction at Pontymister and was responsible for the wages within the company.

On January 27 the wages accounts were examined and it was noted that she had put through, in her own name, two amounts of her wages of £317. She later offered to write a cheque for the extra money she had received, said Miss Pearson. She then informed the company she was "having difficulties" and wanted time off.

The firm became suspicious and when the wages were checked it was discovered the company had been paying £440 in wages to Ceri Davies in an account in Newport, although no one by that name worked for the company. It transpired that £5,390 had gone into that account.

Ceri Davies ran a nursery in Risca and the defendant had being paying her daughter's fees through the bogus account she had set up. Ms Davies had no idea the money was coming to her by illegitimate means, the court heard.

Alex Greenwood, defending, said: "The tragedy is that the theft was for the benefit of her daughter - to allow her to attend a nursery at a cost of £110 per week.

"For this woman there was emotional stress and a huge financial burden. As a result, she took the incredibly stupid step of stealing from her employer."