This article appeared in the Derry Journal 8th July 2005 Shop assistants Jailed for stealing £6,600 from store TWO DUNGIVEN women have been jailed after admitting they stole an estimated £6,600 from a convenience store where they worked as shop assistants. Jennifer Teresa Mullan (40) of 6 Rannyglass, Dungiven and Kerrie Ann Hazlett (32) Of 37 Ballyguddin Road, Dungiven admitted stealing money from their employer. The court heard that during September 2003 the proprietor of a Mace shop in Dungiven noticed the business was not performing well. Covert cameras were installed by a security firm to get to the bottom of the poor business performance. As a result the two defendants’ were caught on film taking money from the till. On October 13 2004, Mullan was arrested and during interview she admitted taking goods and cash from the store. She admitted skimming off extra cash after registering a lower amount in the till for a sale. She further admitted giving out too much change. The court heard that there was no accurate way of measuring what was stolen except to say that it was a “fair amount.” It was roughly estimated that Mullan stole around £4,000 and Hazlett stole approximately £2,600. The charges against both women related to video evidence from the cameras, which were installed only after the takings had gone down “fairly substantially”. Unblemished records A defence solicitor said both women had come before the court with “completely unblemished records”. He said that his clients pleaded guilty at the earliest stage. “Even when confronted by their employer, they made no issue of their guilt”. He said that the thefts were something that happened over a period of time, “without any thought”. “ It seems to have snowballed out of control”, he said. He added that his clients felt genuine remorse about what they had done. After reading a pre-sentence report on the defendants, Magistrate Mervyn Bates said that both women had been involved in a “systematic series of thefts”, adding that only “sample charges”, relating to the crimes appeared before the court. He added that there was no question that the women had been “stooged”, for anyone else’s gain. “The sample charges before the court show to some extent what was going on,” he said. Mr Bates said that the two women acted “in concert”, without giving it much thought, adding that they would have plenty of time to think about it in prison. Both women were sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay compensation to the proprietor of the business (Hazlett-£400 and Mullan-£250). The initial investigation was conducted by Successful Security Ltd, and handed to the police for prosecution. Should you have any problems with staff dishonesty and require advice do not hesitate too contact us on freephone 08000 836 403