An advertising agency PA who spent more than £33,000 on designer clothes, hotels and taxi rides using company credit cards could be spared a jail sentence after a judge said he “hates” sending women to prison.

Sophie Franklin, 30, went on lavish sprees over two years, abusing her role at the Bermondsey-based Circle Square Agency to settle phone bills, pay for travel and go shopping with friends.

The “wholesale fraud”, carried out between January 2014 and February last year, was spotted when Franklin left to join another advertising agency.

Judge Owen Davies heard that Franklin has since paid back £32,000 to Circle Square, and he gave her another five months to show she has done her best to atone for her crime.

“I hate sending to prison women who have not been to prison before and who have been convicted for the first time”, he told her. “This is not an uncommon offence and it should not be possible to buy yourself out of an offence.”

But he said suspending the prison sentence was justified if Franklin shows she has “mitigated the harm” to her former employers.

Franklin wiped away tears in the dock at Inner London crown court as the judge adjourned sentencing until May 17, adding: “If I am satisfied you have done your best, I will suspend the prison sentence.”

The court heard that Franklin, of Basildon, racked up more than £7,000 in taxi fares alone, with the total fraud amounting to £33,136.

She now works for advertising agency FCB Inferno in Covent Garden as a senior talent partner, and told the court her new employers knew about the case and were supporting her.

However, a spokesman for FCB Inferno said: “FCB Inferno would like it on record that her fraud conviction only came to light today and that internal investigations are now underway. Ms Franklin has been suspended pending the outcome.“

Franklin pleaded guilty to fraud and was freed on bail until the final sentencing hearing.