An officer manager who lied that she'd just had a baby to avoid prison after stealing £7,700 from work to fund her cocaine habit has been jailed for eight months.
Heather McCarthy, 33, used the fictitious birth to make a tearful plea for mercy last November, claiming she hadn't told anyone about her child because of 'post natal depression.'
As a result she was handed a suspended sentence as the judge was reluctant to separate the mother from her child.
McCarthy, who'd burned the cash on drink and drugs, sobbed in the dock and repeated 'thank you so much,' as the judge ordered for her to be freed.