A wedding organiser has been given a suspended jail sentence after she stole nearly £15,000 from deposits and money paid to her at a West Yorkshire country house hotel.

Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday that Helen Oliver had started working for the Classic Lodge Hotel Group in 2006.

She was a trusted employee but it was discovered between January 2010 and March 2012 that while working as a wedding co-ordinator/organiser at the Bagden Hall Hotel in Denby Dale, she was committing thefts.

Bashir Ahmed prosecuting said in that capacity she would collect deposits usually of around £500 or £1000 from people who wanted to book the hotel for their wedding but had kept some for herself.

In order to conceal what she had done she would use a later deposit to cover that which she had taken.

She also had some responsibility for dealing with contractors and suppliers and it was through this that her dishonesty eventually came to light, after a fireworks company claimed to have paid £220 for exclusive rights to provide fireworks for entertainment.

She had no right to agree to that and was also discovered to have kept the amount for herself. By the time the offences were discovered she had stolen a total of £14,719.38, which she initially had denied.

Mr Ahmed said the hotel ensured no customer had lost out as a result of her actions. She will now face confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Tom Storey representing Oliver said she was now receiving benefits. She had not explained her actions but there was nothing to say she had been spending money in a lavish way.

Oliver, 35, a mother of two of Phillips Grove, Lofthouse Gate, Wakefield admitted theft and was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months with 200 hours unpaid work.

Judge Christopher Batty told her: “It is sad to see you here. You have led a blameless life, you have two very young children and are the sole carer for them, and you behaved disgracefully as far as your employers are concerned.”

“I don’t know why because you have not helped with that and your counsel is in no position to help because you have not helped him, but there is no point sending you to custody.”

He said he could tell from looking at her the impact of the case on her.

"You have clearly been through the mill as far as this is concerned, it has likely worried you to death and so it should," he said,

There had to be a custodial sentence but he could suspend it.