A PUB landlady stole more than £3,500 from her employers to pay off debts, a court heard.

Kim Rowley was given a 16-week sentence suspended for 12 months by Selby magistrates after pleading guilty to stealing £3,586.89 from the Cross Keys Inn, at Hillam, near Monk Fryston, over a six-month period last year.

The court heard Rowley doctored the weekly accounts on several occasions between March and September 2010, and claimed money had been put into company bank accounts.

On the first occasion, Rowley made a full admission to the company director and said she had spent the money, but would borrow it from a friend and pay it back.

The following week’s accounts were checked by her employers and found to be correct, but the next week’s accounts were down by a further £1,460 and Rowley again told her employers she would pay it back.

This happened once more before Rowley was dismissed and reported to the police.

Keith Haggarty, for Rowley, said his client acknowledged her guilt and did not ask the court to excuse what she had done.

He said Rowley had run the pub with her husband, and their daughter was driven daily to school in Leeds. But when he left them and took the car, she struggled to cope, and mainly spent the money on taxis for her daughter’s school run, and to the cash and carry.

Mr Haggarty said: “She retained some money at the end of the working week to use the following week so she could put it back, but that didn’t happen.

“Things just got worse, and she found herself secretly doing the same thing for bigger and bigger amounts.”

Rowley was also told she must also repay the full amount to her former employers, and would have to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.