Freed early, the PA who stole £4.3m and broke prison rules

Joyti De Laurey, 38, moved into the £250,000 apartment two weeks ago after being released just half-way through her seven-year sentence.

Bizarrely, she is living directly opposite her ex-husband, who lives in their former marital home with his new partner.

De Laurey was jailed for seven years in 2004 for her thefts from three high-flyers at Goldman Sachs bank which paid for luxury cars, a string of properties, fivestar holidays and Cartier diamonds.

Scroll down for more

Called "duplicitous, deceitful and thoroughly dishonest" by a judge, the privatelyeducated PA continued to crave the high life after she was jailed and last year was transferred to another prison after it emerged she had tried to con a chaplain into smuggling luxuries into her cell.

Yet despite this, she has been granted parole at the earliest possible opportunity.

Officials could have kept her behind bars until October next year, when she would have served two-thirds of her sentence, but opted to release her earlier this month instead.

Sources close to the case said De Laurey appeared to have been a "direct beneficiary" of prison overcrowding.

She was released from Downview Prison in Surrey two weeks ago and is now living in a 1930s apartment block in Cheam, Surrey.

She bought the two bedroomed flat in 2001, during her incredible spending spree at the expense of her multi-millionaire colleagues, and it lay empty during her spell in prison. Goldman Sachs has not tried to claim it back.

De Laurey is living with her ten-year- old son and a new boyfriend, the brother of a female inmate she met in jail.

She is divorced from Anthony De Laurey, who got an 18-month prison sentence for helping launder the stolen cash. He lives across the road in a detached home with his new partner Jacqueline Havelock-Hill, 45, whom he met on the school run.

A friend of Mr De Laurey, 53, said: "He is unhappy his ex-wife is living so close, but maintains a civilised relationship with her for the sake of their son.

Scroll down for more

"Goldman Sachs recovered the majority of the money Joyti stole but has not tried to recover everything she spent, possibly to avoid further negative publicity. It looks like Joyti may have had the last laugh."

De Laurey's bosses at Goldman Sachs were so rich they did not notice sums of up to £2.25million at a time disappearing, London's Southwark Crown Court heard in 2004.

De Laurey claimed her American bosses, husband and wife Jennifer Moses and Ron Beller and their even wealthier successor Edward Scott Mead, let her milk their millions as a reward for her abilities.

She insisted the latter allowed her free rein over his New York investment account for helping him keep assignations with a secret mistress.

In the run-up to her release, she was allowed out on day release to do voluntary work with the prison service, helping female criminals re-integrate into society.

She is continuing with this work but is understood to be starting a new full-time job in the coming weeks.

De Laurey refused to comment last night.

Speaking through the intercom of her property, she said: "Under the terms of my release, I am not allowed to say anything."

Goldman Sachs could not be reached for comment.