A SHOP worker who stole £3,000 from her employer has been ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community.Light-fingered Natalie Stemmings admitted helping herself to cash from the till on several occasions at her workplace in WH Smith, Ipswich, between June 8 and September 10 this year.

A SHOP worker who stole £3,000 from her employer has been ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community.

Light-fingered Natalie Stemmings admitted helping herself to cash from the till on several occasions at her workplace in WH Smith, Ipswich, between June 8 and September 10 this year.

The court heard the bride-to-be took the cash after getting into financial difficulties.

Stemmings, of Mallard Way, Felixstowe, was suspended from her post and faces the sack.

Gareth Davies, prosecuting at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court, said: "Over a period of three months she regularly stolen sums of money from the till which she was working."

The 23-year-old sales assistant admitted stealing when quizzed by management and police were called.

Charles Riddleston, mitigating, said of the £3,000, £250 was stolen on the day she was arrested and returned and £200 was borrowed.

"The first couple of occasions when she took money it was more align to borrowing rather than stealing," said Mr Riddleston.

"She accepts her stealing amounted to perhaps just over £2,800 and that is the basis of her plea.

"The theft was unsophisticated and she made no attempt to cover her tracks. There was always going to be a discrepancy in the figures.

"Thankfully it was not on theft from a purse, but from a large company.

"The affect on a large company like WH Smith is not going to be the same as it would be from a small employer, such as a family run business."

Bench chairwoman Anne Walker ordered Stemmings to do 200 hours unpaid work in the community and pay £55 towards prosecution costs.