A woman who stole close to £100,000 from an estate agency she worked for has been spared a prison sentence.

Farida Mughal, 46, stole money from Whitegates estate agents in Dewsbury by submitting fake invoices claiming maintenance needed to be carried out on a number of properties.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Mughal, of Howltech Lane in County Durham, worked at the company as a property maintenance manager and committed the fraud between July 2019 and January 2021. She was caught out when the MD of the firm investigated.

Prosecutor Daniel Ingham said Mughal carried out the offending in two different ways.

He said: “The first involved invoices for maintenance works. The portfolio did often need this work to be carried out but she started presenting invoices for Bespoke Repairs and JS Maintenances. The bank accounts were under her control and were not genuine.”

Some of the work invoiced for would be carried out, but some was not, the court was told. It was said Mughal would also require deposits and bonds from tenants which would then be paid into accounts. Over the course of an 18-month period it was said a total of £92,837.42 was paid into the Bespoke account – under Mughal’s control, and two others including her husband’s.

Ingham commented: “The offending came to light in January 2021. The managing director became aware and concerned that a lot of money was being paid to a business he was not aware of. He found out she was the holder of the account and she was dismissed…She told him she was acting to pay off a loan shark she had borrowed money off four years earlier.”

Mughal was interviewed by police in May 2021 and said she stole the money at the behest of people she owed money to. She said some of the invoices were legitimate and some were exaggerated.

Mitigating, Catherine Silverton, described her client as “vulnerable” and said the offence was significantly mitigated by the reasons underlying it.

She told the court: “As you know, her very difficult domestic background led to her making poor decisions to get her into debt. She says it was for a loan shark, who caused her to do this.”