A 29-YEAR-old woman who bought £37,000 worth of goods for herself through her Bromsgrove employer's books has escaped a jail sentence.

Emily Brookes bought iPads, iPhones and other items on a regular basis under pressure from her drug addict ex-partner, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Gerrard Quirke, prosecuting, told the court Brookes had been taken on in the office of shopfitting company BFM Install at Basepoint industrial centre in Bromsgrove in October, 2014, and part of her job was to order items such as tables and chairs.

But she was dismissed in February this year when it was discovered there was some missing money and she confessed to her bosses she had spent about £1,000 for herself. Further investigation revealed the actual amount involved was £37,791 and Mr Quirke said she had been regularly buying items from the suppliers such as iPhones and iPads worth hundreds of pounds.

As a result, he said, there had been financial difficulties and one of the firm's directors had not received his retirement package.

Brookes, of Bromyard Road, Worcester, pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud.

Jason Patel, defending, said her former partner, who is currently in jail and was not named in court, had harassed her and forced her to get the items to sell to fund his drug addiction.

He said Brookes now had a new partner and was pregnant. They had had to move on two occasions to keep away from her ex-partner and now had plans to leave the area. He told the court the employers were an ancillary of a larger furniture business which was still trading and no jobs had been lost.

A nominal proceeds of crime application was granted in the sum of £10 as Brookes has no assets but she will have to repay the full amount if she ever has the money, the court heard.

Recorder Robert Spencer-Bernard said she had been put in a position of absolute trust.

"You were to safeguard the company's funds and not to pillage them as you did," he told her.

He said Brookes had ordered reasonably expensive electrical items "day after day after day" but he accepted she had been under the "malign influence" of her former partner.

He said she was of previous good character and unlikely to commit further offences so she had escaped being sent straight to jail.

She was given a sentence of 12 months suspended for 12 months with 200 hours unpaid work.