Bank cashier outed by holiday photos after stealing £13k is ordered to pay back money

A building society cashier who stole thousands of pounds from customers to pay for "lavish" holidays has been ordered to repay more than £12,000.

Kelly Kershaw, 54, took at least £8,605 from vulnerable and elderly customers at Nationwide in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, even forging the signature of a man with learning disabilities.

Kershaw admitted five counts of fraud after colleagues spotted Facebook posts of her on safari in Africa, and on trips to Paris, Tuscany and Dubai.

She was jailed for 16 years in May but returned to Caernarfon Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime Act, external hearing, where the court heard she benefited £13,333.26 from her crimes - and had £12,630 in assets.

Judge Nicola Jones ordered Kershaw to repay the sum within three months or face a further five months in prison.

The mother-of-two posted pictures of skiing trips, safaris and romantic European getaways on her Facebook page and boasted she was "living and loving life one adventure at a time."

Kershaw's victims included an 85-year-old man who had lost some "cognitive abilities" after suffering a stroke - and she stole £6,300 from him.

On one occasion, he came to the branch asking to withdraw £200, but Kershaw logged the withdrawal as £500 and pocketed £300 herself.

Another victim was a 49-year-old man with learning difficulties who lost £1,400 to Kershaw - he had his bank card kept in the branch as he was a previous victim of fraud.

Owen said Kershaw was interviewed by a financial investigator in November 2024 and admitted what she had done and was arrested by police.

"The total amount which can be shown to be taken fraudulently is £8,605, the building society did however reimburse customers to the total of £12,630," said Owen.

Kershaw admitted five counts of fraud.

Defence barrister Amy Edwards said Kershaw was suffering from a "compulsive spending addiction" at the time.

"She gave a full and frank admission to the offence and showed remorse to each of her victims. That is genuine remorse and regret for what she did," said Edwards.

Judge Timothy Petts said Kershaw needed to be jailed as a "deterrent" to other cashiers so as to "prevent others from doing the same".

He told her: "While working as a building society cashier in Caernarfon you systematically stole £8,605 from five elderly or vulnerable customers over a period of 11 months.

"Your pattern of offending was repeated. You forged peoples signatures or you would take their card to withdraw a large sum from the account and only hand over part of it.

"You were asked why you targeted those people in particular, you said they were 'easy targets who wouldn't notice the money going from their accounts.

"The reality is you only stopped stealing money because suspicions were raised about your lifestyle, investigations took place and your fraud was discovered."