Hannah Brand, 32, took “as much as she could get away with” for over two years while employed as an assistant at the Aerolite Garage in Watton.
The single mother admitted regularly stealing both cash and food items that were not accounted for in the records of daily takings at the petrol station and garage that provides motor repairs, supplies, and MOT testing.
Her dishonesty came to light when the owner of the business, Steve Parrott, began to notice discrepancies in the accounts.
Hannah Brand pleaded guilty to theft by employee over two years (Image: Newsquest)
Prosecutors said her offending had involved deliberately planning to fiddle till records rather than simple theft and had continued for a “significant period of time.”
Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard the owner had estimated losses to the business had been between £30,000 and £40,000, but the total she was charged with stealing was given as approximately £21,000.
Brand, of Drury Lane in Carbrooke, had previously pleaded guilty to theft by employee between April 2024 and February 2026.
A pre-sentence report had been ordered to look at all options, including being immediately sent to jail or having her case being committed to the crown court, which has greater powers of sentence.
But as she returned to the dock to learn her fate, magistrates decided to suspend a 12-month prison sentence for 18 months with requirements to do 100 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation days.
The owner of the Aerolite Garage in Watton noticed a discrepancy in the financial records (Image: Facebook)
Magistrates told her: “This is a very serious matter that has had an impact on the people directly involved and the wider community.
“You took what you thought you could get away with, so there is an element of deliberate calculation in your actions.”
But they said they had been decided to suspend the sentence to take into account her previous good character and claims she was the victim of a controlling relationship and suffering from post-natal depression at the time.
James Burrows, mitigating, said she had admitted her actions and was “genuinely remorseful.”
