A THURNSCOE woman who tried to pay off £25,000 personal debts by stealing from a local children’s charity has escaped prison.

Judge Alan Goldsack QC yesterday ordered Karen Hardman, 44, of Shepherd Lane, to do 200 hours community service for stealing £1,456.85 from Station House Association where she was employed as project manager.

She must also pay back the money she stole at £60 a month.

Hardman, who now has a job with a British Gas call centre, had appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, but Judge Goldsack remanded her in custody overnight to consider her sentence.

“You committed a gross breach of trust and as the sum is not a large one a custodial sentence would be small,” he told her.

“You have been of good character until you were 44 years old, had a night in custody and discovered that a large institution may not want to keep you on their books when they have found that you are a criminal.

“Part of your punishment will be people looking at you and saying that is the woman who stole from a charity.”

He said he was in no doubt that she would pay off her debts and reimburse the charity and if she loses her job at the British Gas call centre he felt sure she would find another one.

Hardman, who admitted seven charges of theft and two of making a false instrument, found work at the call centre with references from her former employers at Station House.

The company was aware of her circumstances, but was unable to confirm that she will keep her job until after a disciplinary hearing.

Defence counsel Sarah Wright said: “She hopes to keep her job, but in any event she is determined to seek employment no matter how menial to pay off the debts.” She said Hardman’s family faced bankruptcy and would lose their home if she was given a custodial sentence. In that case there would be little prospect of her creditors being compensated.

“She had a torrid time in custody last night and was extremely upset, but dealt with it. This is not a lady who who has thrown up her hands and said ‘I cannot pay my creditors’.”

Hardman’s offences of theft from the association included grants and donations and £200 raised by children for a trip to a show. Coffee mornings were held so that the trip could go ahead. The thefts were discovered when a finance officer discovered irregularities in the accounts between May 2005 and January 2006.