A SOLICITOR who stole £9,600 from her employer was yesterday jailed for three months.

Elizabeth Rebecca Handley, better known in Teesside legal circles as Liza Mulligan, her maiden name, took the money to help meet £23,000 debts accrued as a student and on credit cards.

But Durham Crown Court heard that apart from losing her good name and job, Handley now faces being struck off by the solicitors' disciplinary tribunal.

Thirty-year-old Handley, of Turnpike Road, Sedgefield, County Durham, previously admitted four counts each of theft and false accounting.

It related to her diverting money paid in case costs to her employer, Middlesbrough law firm Freers, to the account of her husband, for whom she previously made a legitimate successful injury compensation claim.

Sums totalling £7,800 were paid to her husband's acc-ount, while a further amount of £1,836 which should have gone to Freers, was diverted to a client.

The matter came to light through the vigilance of a cashier at Freers after Handley left to join another Tees-side law firm, from where was subsequently dismissed.

Robin Denny, mitigating, told the court: "She was trying to dig herself out of trouble she got herself into, and not a question of greed."

Mr Denny said she subsequently worked for finance company Zurich, but lost that job last month when they found out about the case, but has since found a new job, and her employers are aware of the court appearance.

Jailing her, Judge Tony Lancaster said: "Your profession demands high standards of professionalism and prob-erty, which you failed to keep."

He said he would be failing in his public duty if he did not jail Handley, even if only for a short period.

Judge Lancaster ordered that £6,000 of her money held by Freers should be kept by the company.

Freers' solicitor and partner Paul Bryan said last night the firm will begin civil proceedings next week to recover the outstanding amount, plus interest and costs. He said: "We trained her, and she was with us for nearly five years, and trusted her as a friend, a colleague and a solicitor."