Diane Lathlean, 50, stole thousands from Ampleforth village shop and post office

Diane Lathlean, 50, sailed round Hawaii, the Bahamas and the Mediterranean and spent Christmas in California, while village postmistress Fiona Senior and her family including a disabled daughter lived on mouldy bread, mystified by what had happened to the profits.

Lathlean holidayed in the Bahamas after stealing from her boss and friend

Mum-of-three Lathlean, a part-time shelf stacker and counter assistant, was employed for 14 and a half hours a week at the post office and village shop in Ampleforth, for £6.10 an hour.

She was convicted of stealing £3,050 worth of stock between 2008 and 2012 but Mrs Senior's husband Paul told a court he believed the real losses were £50,000.

He said outside court: ‎“We put £43,000 into the business while we lived like paupers and she was cruising the world.”

Lathlean also enjoyed beauty treatments and was a Tottenham Hotspur season ticket holder, travelling all over the country and staying in hotels, her victims said.

Mrs Senior, 48, refused to believe her best friend was to blame as the post office and village shop in Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, teetered on the brink of ruin.

But her husband Paul, 45, became suspicious when "appalling" takings suddenly flourished after Lathlean booked herself on a three-week voyage to Panama, while her bosses had collected coupons towards a cheap break at Haven’s Haggerston Castle Caravan Park in Northumberland, magistrates were told.

‎"We didn't have to put money into the business for three weeks but when Diane returned we were back to square one," Mr Senior told Scarborough magistrates.

‎He and his wife had "inherited" Lathlean when they took over the post office and shop in 2008, he said.

Lathlean held a season-ticket at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane

Lathlean had worked in the shop under the store's previous owners, who had also struggled to make ends meet, he added.

‎The court heard Lathlean knew most of the people in the village and had served them for more than 20 years - yet her new bosses said they "seemed to struggle from day one" in turning a profit.

‎By 2012, local businesses - seeing the store was getting run down - clubbed together to pay for a refurbishment, which included CCTV.

‎When Mr Senior checked the footage, he was amazed to see Lathlean wandering around the empty shop slipping groceries in her bag or dropping them into a drawer to retrieve later.

‎She helped herself to bread, milk, eggs, bananas, lettuce, mushrooms, pet food, fruit juice, cereal, sausage rolls, magazines, shampoo and toiletries, and these were just "the edited highlights" of 400 hours of filming, the court heard.

Paul and Fiona Senior, pictured when the shop was refurbished in 2012

‎Mr Senior said: “I was in shock - deep shock - at the whole scenario."

‎But when he cornered her by the ice-cream freezer and offered to show her the footage she calmly replied: “I’m really sorry for you if you think I’m stealing from you.”

‎Later, she dropped a note through the door of the couple’s flat above the shop offering to repay £3,050 for missing stock - and grumpily returned her overalls saying 'You can stick your job'.

‎Mr Senior told the court he reckoned the true loss was more like £50,000 and he had long suspected his employee had been stealing.

‎He added: "It stuck out a lot more when Diane was on holiday. We could afford to pay our bills when she was on holiday.

‎"I suspected after a while there was something wrong. But because Diane was Fiona's best friend she just would not hear of it."

‎Lathlean, of Geldgate, Ampleforth, told police she enjoyed regular holidays because her husband Simon had a highly paid job with American Express.

She denied the theft of £3,050 worth of stock between 2008 and 2012 but was convicted and will appear at York Crown Court for sentence in January.

‎Prosecutor Martin Hawes told her: “Fiona Senior was actually protecting you. When Mr Senior first mentioned his suspicions to his wife she would not even hear of it.

"‎She was prepared to believe you over her husband’s suspicions.”

‎The lower court could have jailed her for six months but magistrate Carl Harwood said: “The offence is so serious you need greater punishment than we can give you.

‎“You were entrusted to run the business while the owners were away. We cannot see there would be any higher degree of trust.”

‎After the verdict, the court heard that Lathlean had already repaid the Seniors £3,050 for the stock and there was therefore no claim for compensation.

Villagers in quiet Ampleforth had rallied round to help pay for a refurbishment of the shop. The new CCTV proved crucial.

‎Documents were also revealed by the Seniors showing they had received a £28,000 settlement for alleged theft of money and goods by Lathlean in a previous civil case.

The civil settlement was not disclosed for legal reasons to the magistrates - who were told the alleged cash discrepancies had been investigated by police and the post office who had decided to take no further action.‎

Outside court, Mr Senior revealed details of Lathlean’s lavish lifestyle, adding: “She went on at least ten cruises while we were on the rocks.

“At one stage we were only a week from going under and I had to take a second job as a chimney sweep to prop the business up."

‎The couple have a disabled daughter, Eleanor, 13, who suffers from the rare genetic disorder‎ Prader–Willi syndrome,‎ and they also have another daughter Jennifer.

‎Mrs Senior said: “We were eating mouldy bread and buying second hand Christmas presents from charity shops.

‎“I was devastated when I found out what Diane had been doing. She was my best friend, and the best friend of the people who had the shop before us.

‎“I just sank and went to bed for four days. Now I don’t even want to be in the same room as her.”