An aspiring glamour model who stole £46,000 from the bank where she worked to fund a boob job, dental work and liposuction has been jailed for a year.
Rachael Martin, 24, spent thousands on cosmetic procedures, bought hair extensions and went on wild shopping sprees.
She took the cash from tills at Barclays Bank in Liskeard, Cornwall, over an eight-week period when she was working there as a clerk.
The law graduate, who has an eight-year-old son, splashed out £4,000 on breast surgery and £1,081 on expensive dental work, including treatment to whiten her teeth.
Martin splashed out on drink and drugs, designer Mulberry handbags, Jimmy Choo shoes, and Disney toys for her son.
She posed in several risque photo shoots wearing only lingerie to try and boost her career as a glamour model under the name ‘Bella Roo’ and ‘Roorootini’.
Blonde Martin is said to have travelled to Bristol on shopping trips and also paid out for liposuction from the stolen money.
She initially denied 25 separate counts of theft from the bank between September 1 and October 3 in 2010.
But she later admitted a single charge of theft covering the same amount of money and dates.
Martin was jailed for 52 weeks at Truro Crown Court, with Recorder Jeremy Wright branding her crimes “clever, considered and a serious breach of trust”.
The judge said: “I’m told you spent the money on cosmetic surgery, drink, drugs and having a good time.
“It seems to me that it would be a mockery if I did not send you to prison straight away.
“This has been aggravated at least to some extent by the fact that suspicion as a result of your denial would automatically be thrust on others even if no other investigations took place.”
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The court previously heard how Martin stole amounts of either £1,000 or £2,000 a time, putting the funds into her own account.
All her thefts involved loans company The Provident.
On one occasion a cashier from the firm came in to cash a cheque and Martin gave her the money but she registered on the bank’s system that the cashier had asked for more and pocketed the #1,000 difference.
Martin also trawled through records of Provident cheques that had been cashed around the country and pretended she had dealt with them.
She entered the details on to the bank’s system and kept the cash for herself.
Ian Leadbetter, prosecuting, said Martin had visited electrical goods store Woolacotts and paid £700 for items.
He said: “The person serving her noticed that she took the money out of a white envelope and that she had a lot more in her bag.
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“One cannot fail to notice that she also spent an inordinate amount of money in a nail bar.”
He said text messages from Martin revealed her boasting about work she had paid for on her teeth, saying: “Two veneers and I’m getting another two hahaha”.
Another text said: “I just spent £600 on a new TV and cinema system for my bedroom.”
Police were called when the theft was uncovered – but Martin had already spent all of the stolen cash.
Before an earlier hearing a photograph of Martin standing outside the entrance to court two of Truro Crown Court was posted on her Twitter account.
The picture showed her exposing her breasts and was captioned: “T**s out in the court house! Most daring flash yet!”
Yesterday in court, Recorder Mr Wright said: “I disregard the photograph that may have been made available to the public and may have been a contempt of court.
“I doubt very much it was nothing to do with you (Martin).”
Michael Melville-Shreeve, mitigating, said psychiatrists had branded Martin “sexually disinhibited” and “self-destructive”.
He said: “She is £70,000 in debt and is likely to go into bankruptcy.
“She bought the type of valueless, consumerist detritus shops offer. She had no reason for it and I would be surprise if it gave her much pleasure.”
Last year two siblings who used stolen credit card details to pay for breast enlargements were spared jail.
Rishona Carlene Downes, 25, and her 27-year-old sister Ramona Charlene spent more than #4,000 each on the procedures.
They were given the credit card numbers by a friend who worked for American Express.
Judge Christopher Hardy handed them 12-month community orders with 120 hours of unpaid work at Southwark Crown Court in April 2011.
In June this year a mother-of-five who used her £29,000-a-year benefits to pay for a similar operation was jailed for shoplifting.
Kelly Fannin, 34, of Falmouth, Cornwall, spent £4,500 of taxpayers’ cash enlarging her 34A chest to a 34D.
She sparked outrage when she gave an interview in 2010 boasting about her lavish spending while on benefits.
Fannin, who had been spared jail three times in five years for a series of previous thefts, was imprisoned for 16 weeks.
