A shop manager who stole more than £9,000 while working at Subway has been handed a suspended sentence.
She said that she had taken the money while she had issues with alcohol and cocaine.
High Bailiff Jayne Hughes sentenced the 38-year-old to seven months in custody, suspended for two years and ordered her to pay £9,427 compensation to Subway.
We previously reported that police were called by staff at Subway on September 29 last year.
They reported that a large number of refunds had been falsely processed by Pailing, who had taken the cash.
She had worked at the Port Erin branch in Bridson Street, as a manager, between April 28, 2022, and September 29, 2022.
Refunds totalling £9,022.69 had been processed there, by Pailing, which were false.
Between June 2022 and September 2022, she had also worked at times as a staff member in the Peel branch, where she had processed refunds of £410 which were fake.
Subway reported that refunds were usually minimal but had been abnormal during the periods.
Pailing was said to be the only member of staff able to process refunds at the Port Erin branch and on September 29, CCTV footage had captured her processing a refund of £20 with no customer present, then putting the receipt under the cash till keyboard.
When confronted, Pailing, who lives at Ballamaddrell in Port Erin, admitted the offences, saying she had been using the money for food, clothes, and bills.
She was subsequently arrested and during an interview at police headquarters, answered ‘no comment’ to all questions.
The court heard that she has no previous convictions.
Defence advocate Paul Rodgers said: ‘Ms Pailing is someone who has come onto the court’s radar with something of a bang.’
Mr Rodgers asked for credit to be given for the guilty pleas and said that the offences had been relatively unsophisticated, being uncovered by an audit.
The advocate said that Pailing now had a new job as a self-employed delivery driver, earning £2,000 a month, and could offer to repay the money at a rate of £100 per month.
Mr Rodgers said that, at the time of the offences, his client had been failing to manage her finances, and had issues with alcohol and cocaine, but had since been seeing Motiv8.
The advocate asked the court to consider the article eight human rights of Pailing’s child.
High Bailiff Jayne Hughes asked why Pailing had not yet started paying the money back to Subway.
Mr Rodgers said that there had been initial discussions about what the total amount was and that Pailing could not afford to pay any significant amount.
A probation report assessed Pailing at a low risk of reoffending and of harm to others.
The High Bailiff told Pailing: ‘You were a manager at the time. You had the trust of your employer.
‘You have accepted responsibility and have shown remorse, but I very much suspect the remorse is for the impact it’s had on your life rather than for Subway or its customers.’
Mrs Hughes said that grounds to suspend the sentence were the article eight rights of Pailing’s child, her guilty pleas, her self-referral to Motiv8, and the fact that she had obtained new employment.
However, the High Bailiff said that the offer to repay the money at a rate of £100 per month was not a realistic offer and ordered Pailing to pay £200 per month.