Preston Crown Court heard how Margaret Chippendale charged Barton Grange Garden Centre at Barton, near Preston, for purchasing hamsters by forging the invoices from genuine small-scale suppliers or making up fictitious ones for the past two years.
The garden centre owners only became suspicious last summer when there was a request for a particularly large amount of petty cash from her and when it was challenged, Chippendale confessed to two years of fraud.
Chippendale, 39, of Pennine View, Dolphinholme, near Lancaster, confessed to 13 offences of obtaining property by deception and revealed that there were 40 similar cases.
She received an eight-month prison term, but judge Philip Sycamore suspended the sentence for 18 months on condition she is supervised by the probation service. Chippendale must also pay £10,000 compensation to her former employers.
Her barrister, Roderick Priestley, said Chippendale wished to publicly apologise to Barton Grange. She was deep in credit card debts and was struggling to repay a consolidated loan.
Chippendale stated that she will pay £6,000 of the money within 28 days and the balance monthly over the next two years.
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