A 27-year-old university employee has been jailed for eight months after stealing more than £50,000 meant for student expenses.
Sophie O’Hara was employed as an administrator for Norwich-based University of East Anglia (UEA), and her job was to sign off student expenses.
She, however, processed fake claims which she authorized to go into her own Natwest account, stealing £50,504 over a 17-month period, and splashed all the cash on luxury trips to Egypt, Florida and Madrid, and outings at the Ritz hotel in London.
O’Hara, of Norwich, Norfolk, admitted one charge of theft of cash from the UEA between March 2012 and October 2013 and was jailed for eight months at Norwich Crown Court.