A legal secretary from Caerphilly has been jailed for stealing almost £80,000 from vulnerable clients of her solicitors’ firm.
Dianne Spragg, 48, a mother-of-two, stole from “mentally incapacitated” customers to fund online shopping sprees.
Cardiff Crown Court was told how she wrote cheques out to herself and online retailers totalling more than £79,000.
Spragg, who was jailed for two-and-a-half-years, earned a salary of £20,200 as a legal secretary with Cardiff law firm Geldards. The company acts for the Court of Protection and deals with the financial affairs of people who cannot run their own finances.
The court heard how she targeted the accounts of the firm’s injured and mentally incapacitated clients.
Spragg, of St Christopher’s Drive, Caerphilly, had been a legal secretary for more than 20 years.
Defending barrister Adam Sharp said Spragg, who admitted charges of fraud and possessing criminal property, felt an “overwhelming sense of shame”.
Sentencing her, Judge Thomas Crowther, said: “This was a gross breach of trust. You depleted the accounts of people who, through age, accident or injury were unable to administer their own affairs.
“This money was not being used to feed hungry children but to see you never had to deny yourself anything you wanted.”
The victims of Spragg’s deceit have all been reimbursed by law firm Geldards.