TO those who see her now, Mary Blair cuts a pathetic figure.

Her hands shaking, her face bare of make-up and her hair dishevelled, she has looked a broken woman since her "large-scale dishonesty" - as Judge John Walford called it yesterday - was uncovered by detectives a year ago.

Blair's hunched, pale-faced demeanour reveals nothing of her former image as a glamorous businesswoman who oozed confidence and affluence.

Those who worked with her at PMB Motors, in Darlington, and at her bridal wear business, also in the town, believed her to be an ambitious, hardworking, middle-aged accountant.

In fact, Blair was not a real accountant, but a book-keeper who was eventually made financial director at PMB.

But her skill at manipulating figures and people allowed her to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds without anyone suspecting a thing.

At PMB, where she was employed in 1992, the mother-of-two was, as former owner John McArdle said, "everybody's favourite auntie".

"She was there from inception," he said. "People would go to her with their problems. And she wore her heart on her sleeve about her two daughters and their illnesses."

Her own employees, at Chloe's Bridal Wear and later Manhattan House, saw a different side to her.

They knew her as a boss who could be bad-tempered, unpredictable, ruthless even.

Former shopworker Lindsay Hughes said Blair would visit the shop every lunch time.

"I was quite fearful of her really. She was a very strong character - quite unpredict-able. I was quite anxious when she came in. I wouldn't know what sort of mood she'd be in."

From 1997 to 2002, Blair siphoned at least £820,000 from PMB and, when that business was sold, South Cleveland Garages.

Mr McArdle and Bill Robson, the managing director of South Cleveland Garages, believe the true figure could be even higher.

Blair's system was to write company cheques to people she knew and get them to write cheques back to her from their own accounts, thereby hiding the "paper trail".

At directors' meetings at PMB, she explained away financial problems by deflecting blame on to others.

Mr McArdle said: "The business had, understandably, major cash flow problems. Mary always had an explanation for the balance sheet.

"She was always very critical of other members of staff. She would blame them all for being incompetent in what they were doing.

"She undermined all of the staff who were there, some of whom she would treat as personal friends."

Bosses at the garage, a Nissan dealership in McMullen Road, couldn't fathom why the business wasn't more successful.

"Two business managers left because they just couldn't understand why despite all of their efforts in selling large numbers of cars the business wasn't more profitable," said Mr McArdle.

But Blair's impeccable acting skills meant she never came under suspicion.

Former PMB managing director Mark Tranmer said: "I trusted Mary. I never at any time had any cause to question Mary Blair's methods or practices. I believed that all cheques issued were of a legitimate nature."

Independent auditors checked PMB's accounts, drawn up by Blair, each year - but never uncovered the truth.

It was only in the summer of 2001, when Mr McArdle decided to sell his business and gave the books a thorough going over, that the facts unfolded.

The sale of the business went through while a police investigation began.

Blair was kept on as an "accountant" at South Cleveland Garages, though the change of employers did nothing to change her criminal ways.

She continued to steal, before resigning in June last year, ostensibly to spend more time with her daughter in Australia. She was arrested and charged by police last November.

All Blair's assets were frozen, including Manhattan House, which she set up to provide her other daughter, Claire, an enchepilitis sufferer, with a steady income and which appeared to be flourishing.

The 54-year-old, who will be sentenced later this year, now faces a lengthy jail term and will undoubtedly lose her home in Summerhouse Grove, Darlington.

"I intend to try to recover as much as I can," said Mr McArdle.

"I think she should go to prison for a very long time," said Mr Robson. "What she did was an absolute disgrace."