A MARKS And Spencer employee who stole more than £400 from a till in the store is today counting the cost of her actions.Kalpana Acharya, 46, of Cedarcroft Road, Ipswich, admitted two counts of stealing property from a shop premises.

A MARKS And Spencer employee who stole more than £400 from a till in the store is today counting the cost of her actions.

Kalpana Acharya, 46, of Cedarcroft Road, Ipswich, admitted two counts of stealing property from a shop premises.

Her actions were discovered on December 13 after store bosses watched CCTV footage of her retaining a gift receipt that she should have given to a customer.

Godfried Duah, prosecuting, said: “She should have given two receipts over to the customer but failed to do so, so that she could cash the other receipt.

“Having recorded the incident the manager ordered a search of her locker and £415 cash was found.”

At the time of the offence Acharya, a mother of four, was on a conditional discharge as punishment for another offence of theft earlier in the year.

The court heard that Acharya was receiving counselling for depression.

Michael Stephenson, mitigating said: “By any standards this is a very worrying case.

“She tells me she has not spent the money, she would not have spent the money and she does not know why she did it.

“She is horrified by what has happened and is determined not to do it again.”

Acharya was sentenced to a 12 month community supervision order and 120 hours unpaid community work.

She was also ordered to pay back the £415 and pay £55 costs.