Jailed: Supermarket supervisor faked till refunds to steal £500,000 over five years

A supermarket supervisor who stole nearly half a million pounds from her employer and used it to bail out her two sons has been jailed for three years.

Respected employee Moira Bowman, 58, carried out the calculated thefts by faking till receipts for non-existent refunds over a five-year period.

Her secret was finally uncovered in an internal investigation at the branch of EH Booth supermarket where she worked in Carnforth, Lancashire.

She was caught in the act by a covert camera hidden above a supervisor's cabin - nicknamed the Sin Bin.

Bowman, of Grosvenor Place, Carnforth, was jailed for three years at Preston Crown Court.

The judge said the full amount she stole may never been fully known. It worked out at more than £1,000 every week for five years.

Bowman pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering. The prosecution said her illicit earnings totalled at least £350,000.

Her two sons, who were both convicted of money laundering, were also jailed.

Ian Bowman, a 35-year-old father of eight, of Wentworth Crescent, Morecambe, got 21 months and his brother Mark Bowman, 33, of Burdock Walk, Morecambe, was jailed for 15 months.

They had claimed they thought the money came from their mother's savings and family inheritances.

Moira Bowman carried out the offences between July 2001 and September 2006 while she was a customer services supervisor for EH Booth.

Nick Kennedy, prosecuting, said: 'The Crown say it was systematic thieving on a large scale.

'To all intents and purposes, it would appear she  was a respected and well thought of employee, which of course was far from the true position.'

Family album: Moira, 58, and her two sons Ian, left, 35, and Mark, 33, were all jailed at Preston Crown Court. The theft was only uncovered after an internal investigation at the branch where she worked

Her net earnings during her last year at work were £12,500.

It was not until September 2006 that the head of loss prevention security at the supermarket chain carried out an investigation into the Carnforth branch.

Staff had noticed an unusually large number of so called open key refunds at the branch. Such refunds were given to customers who returned unwanted goods bought in the store and had to be authorised by supervisors.

A key would be used to open a till, the bar codes of returned goods would be scanned and receipts printed. The receipts would then be put in the supervisor's cabin.

Moira Bowman had complete control over the tills, allowing her to manipulate entries and steal the cash, Mr Kennedy said.

The court heard that on one particular day, she had used the system to steal around £500. She recorded that 35 bunches of flowers were unwanted or had defects and 35 fresh meat products and 35 newspapers had been returned.

The EH Booth branch in Carnforth, Lancashire, where Moira was a supervisor

She was caught on camera stealing and a piece of paper found in her pocket suggested she had set herself a 'target' of taking £700 one day.

The cash stolen was banked in four of her accounts and went on to be paid into her sons' accounts.

Ian Bowman benefited to the tune of over £162,000 and his brother, more than £84,000.

After losing his job, Ian Bowman set up his own IT firm called Search First Direct using the stolen cash. Money was also put into his mortgage account.

Mark Bowman used the cash to support himself after losing his job.

Mr Andrew Alty, defending Moira Bowman, said most of the money went through the son's accounts.

He told the court: 'For ninety per cent of her working life she has been an honest and hard  working employee. She faces a miserable old age.

'She didn't benefit to any great degree from the monies she has stolen.'

Miss Farrhat Arshad, for Ian Bowman, said he had six children to support at the time he lost his job. The money he received was used to keep the company he launched afloat.

Mr Simon Mintz, for Mark Bowman, said he used the cash to pay his mounting debts.

'He is hopeless with money. He has the profile of a feckless borrower.'

In passing sentence, Judge Stuart Baker said: 'Those thefts went unrecognised for many years, surprising indeed that that is so, but that was the situation.

'All of the supervisors came under suspicion and for the others it must be a most unpleasant thought.

'The thieving of such a large sum, in breach of trust, on a persistent, deliberate and calculated basis and doing it in a way which was clearly very easy, with no apparent prospect of detection, is something which any court must regard as a serious offence.'