A DIRECTOR of a Tyldesley financial services company has been sent to prison for two years at Bolton Crown Court.

Diane Howarth, 35, of Dee Road, Astley, pleaded guilty to five charges of theft involving a total of £46,000 and to five charges of false accounting.

"She was giving the appearance of being a successful financial adviser when her own finances were completely out of control," said her counsel Simon Jack.

Richard Orme, prosecuting, said Howarth was employed as a financial adviser and latterly, as a director, of Sharmans Estates, Tyldesley, who were local agents of the Bradford & Bingley Building Society.

Over a period of two years Howarth stole cash from customers by using her position in the firm to transfer sums from their accounts to her own.

Mr Jack said most of the money taken had now been repaid and only about £11,000 was outstanding.

"One of the tragic aspects of this case was that these thefts were allowed to go on as long as they did," he commented.

He said Howarth was a person of positive good character who had started work as a part time secretary with the firm in 1987 and had progressed until she was invited to become a director early this year.

Fifteen thousand pounds of the stolen money went into purchasing her directorship, he revealed, but said Howarth herself could not account for where much of the other stolen cash had gone.

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