A MOTHER who swindled more than £23,000 from her employer to pay off debts was jailed yesterday.

Kathleen Brown used her position as practice manager at the High Street doctors' surgery in Gateshead to take the cash to put towards her £50,000 debt with loan companies, credit cards and the bank.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the mother-of-one would use £120 of her own money each month as petty cash for the practice. She was then issued with a cheque but would alter the amounts after they were signed by a doctor.

Brown, of Park View, Chester-le-Street, was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to obtaining money transfer by deception and false accounting between April 1, 1998, and July 31, last year