A POVERTY-stricken village post mistress was mystified where all her profits were going – while the best friend who worked in the shop swanned off on luxury cruises, a court heard.

Fiona Senior and her family lived off mouldy bread while she sank her post office pay into keeping the retail side of the business afloat.

Meanwhile, her assistant Diane Lathlean was sailing around Hawaii, the Bahamas and spending Christmas in California.

Mother-of-three Lathlean, a part-time shelf stacker and counter assistant, was employed on a 14-and-a-half hour week, earning £6.10 an hour.

Trusting Fiona, 48, refused to believe her best friend was to blame as the post office and village shop in Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, teetered on the brink of ruin.

But her husband Paul, 45, became suspicious when "appalling" takings suddenly flourished after Lathlean booked herself on a three-week voyage to Panama.

?Meanwhile, her bosses had collected coupons towards a cheap break at Haven’s Haggerston Castle Caravan Park in Northumberland, magistrates were told.

?"We didn't have to put money into the business for three weeks but when Diane returned we were back to square one," Mr Senior told the Scarborough bench.

?He and his wife had "inherited" Lathlean when they took over the post office and shop in 2008, he said.

?The 50-year-old had worked in the shop under the store's previous owners - who had also struggled to make ends meet, he added.

?By 2012, local businesses clubbed together to pay for a refurbishment, which included CCTV.

?When Mr Senior checked the footage, he was amazed to see Lathlean wandering around the empty shop slipping groceries in her bag or dropping them into a drawer to retrieve later.

?She helped herself to bread, milk, eggs, bananas, lettuce, mushrooms, pet food, fruit juice, cereal, sausage rolls, magazines, shampoo and toiletries, and these were just "the edited highlights" of 400 hours of filming, the court heard.

?Mr Senior said when he cornered her and offered to show her the footage she calmly replied: “I’m really sorry for you if you think I’m stealing from you.”

?Later, she dropped a note through the door of the couple’s flat above the shop offering to repay £3,050 for missing stock - and grumpily returned her overalls saying: "You can stick your job."

?Mr Senior told the court he reckoned the true loss was more like £50,000 and he had long suspected his employee had been stealing.

?Lathlean, of Geldgate, Ampleforth, told police she enjoyed regular holidays because her husband Simon had a highly paid job with American Express.

She denied the theft of £3,050 worth of stock between 2008 and 2012 but was convicted and will appear at York Crown Court for sentence in January.

?The lower court could have jailed her for six months but magistrate Carl Harwood said: “The offence is so serious you need greater punishment than we can give you."

?