A former employee of Bournemouth lettings agent Allan & Bath – part of Leaders – has been sentenced to prison for the theft of almost £400,000 from the company.

Accounts manager Shirley Player, 61, who had pleaded guilty to stealing £390,550 from company funds between February 2007 and March 2014, was sentenced to four years, of which she will serve two, with the balance on licence.

During her seven years of systematic embezzlement, she made no fewer than 390 transfers into four accounts she owned.

The court heard she had blown the money on paying off debts, paying rent, and buying treats for her family.

The court also heard that Player began her crime spree because she believed she would die of cancer, having lost two sisters from the disease in 2006 and 2008. Player did not have cancer when she began stealing, but had assumed she would “not be here” when her crimes were discovered. She was,  in fact, diagnosed in 2010.

Carolyn Branford-Wood, prosecuting, said that in fact, Player had responded well to treatment.

After the case, Matt Derry, regional director for Allan & Bath, said: “We should make it clear immediately that no clients of the firm or other third parties have been affected. This was entirely a loss to the company.”

He went on: “For us, this was a particularly shocking event.

“We have detailed and robust security procedures in place throughout the group, and this employee was a long-serving and trusted member of the team, with the firm for some 14 years.

“Unfortunately, for historic reasons this office did not yet conform to our group-wide standards, and it was whilst we were embodying those systems that we uncovered these irregularities.

“There would be no scope for such a circumstance arising again in the future.”

Allan & Bath, which handles both sales and lettings, was founded in 1898 and became part of Leaders in 2006.