A 40-year-old woman, who brazenly cashed a stolen cheque on the same day she denied defrauding a previous employer, was sentenced at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Lorna Snelling, of Jasmine Road, Rush Green, authorised payments worth £21,000 from The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) – formerly the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) – to her personal accounts.

She had forged the signatures of account holders, a method she had used at two previous employers.

Det Cons Paula Doyle of the City of London Police, said: “Snelling is a serial thief who has used her employers as an opportunity to steal money.

“The fact she cashed a stolen cheque from ATOC on the same day she pleaded not guilty to stealing money from her previous two employer’s shows just how dishonest she is.”

At the time Snelling carried out the thefts, she was already being investigated for suspected fraud at Berkeley Homes and Beazley Insurance, her previous employers.

At her first appearance for the earlier cases, she pleaded not guilty at City of London Magistrates Court to stealing from either employer.

After court that day, she walked into Lloyds Bank on Cheapside and cashed a forged ATOC cheque valuing £16k into her bank account. For the fraud offences at Berkley Homes and Beazley Insurance, Snelling was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, for eight counts of fraud by abuse of position on February 5 last year.

She had also stolen a total of £21,000 from those companies.

The thief pleaded guilty in October to defrauding the train organisation and received an 18 month sentence suspended for two years.

Snelling was also ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work and repay £20,000.