Post office owner stole £20,000, court told

A COUNDON woman who stole almost £20,000 from Jubilee Crescent post office after taking it over claims she did so under pressure from her predecessor, a judge has heard.

Tajinder Sahota of Guardhouse Road, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to the theft in June last year.

The 28-year-old also admitted a charge of false accounting by falsifying documents by showing cash was there when it was not.

Sahota had told police she used the money for various reasons including giving £3,000 to former sub-postmaster Sukraj Johal, from whom she bought the business in November 2011.

But in a pre-sentence report and a letter to the court she now claims all the money went to Mr Johal who asked her to take money from the post office to show as a deposit for her purchase of the business and that it would be returned to her, but was not.

Judge Sylvia Bertodano adjourned sentencing for a trial of issue in March.

She told Sahota: "You have said something in your letter and to the probation service about why you took the money. That is something which has to be investigated."

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