A former sub-postmistress at Brent Knoll has escaped an immediate prison sentence after pleading guilty to the theft of nearly £29,000.
Caroline Chennels, of Brent Street, was told she would have faced at least two years in jail if she had denied the offence.
Taunton Crown Court heard she had taken about £2,000 a month to cover her mortgage and to pay bills on the newsagents shop and post office.
At the trial, David Evans, prosecuting, said after a discrepancy was first discovered in September, she said she had taken money only since her husband had left her and returned to Costa Rica in July. However, she later admitted to taking cash from the Post Office since September 2007. Mr Evans said: “She wasn’t making enough from the shop to cover the mortgage and bills.”
Alan Large, representing Caroline Chennels, said if she went to prison, there would be no-one to look after her children and they would be taken into care.
Sentencing her to 51 weeks prison, suspended for two years, with two years’ supervision, Judge Graham Hume Jones said she had taken £28,800 while in a position of trust, which was regarded seriously by the courts. He added that she was entitled to full credit for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.
