A 51-year-old woman has admitted embezzling around £16,000 from her former employer over a period of five-and-a-half years.

Julie Feilden, who worked for Savills Letting Agency in Newmarket, pleaded guilty before South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court in Ipswich to 13 charges of theft by employee.

The offences date from March 2010 to September 2015.

Feilden stole various amounts during that time ranging from £450 to £3,012.

Prosecutor Wayne Ablett said Feilden’s offending was a breach of trust.

She had been employed as a lettings administrator and was responsible for collecting deposits from a number of tenants.

The money was then supposed to be placed in a tenant deposit scheme.

On occasions cash was accepted, but it had to be logged and put in the stationery store under lock and key.

Feilden had the keys to the store.

Part of her job was to bank the money and do the paperwork for the deposits.

The court was told in 2015 Savills carried out redundancies which included Feilden’s role.

At the end of 2015 the business was sold.

Despite being made redundant Feilden asked if she could take the books home to get them up-to-date.

However, Mr Ablett said it took Savills several months to retrieve the books from her and it was then the thefts were discovered.

Magistrates heard the total amount stolen by Feilden, of Ness Road, Burwell, was just over £16,000.

Feilden was interviewed by police on August 11 last year and made full admissions, the court was told.

She has no previous convictions.

The magistrates sent the matter to Ipswich Crown Court for sentencing at a later date as they felt their sentencing powers were insufficient for the case.

Feilden was released on bail until then.