A young woman went on a marathon shopping spree hours（疯狂购物） after a bungling¹（笨拙的） council accidentally credited her bank account with £52,000, a court heard yesterday.

 

Michaela Hutchings, 23, spent £9,000 on expensive designer clothes, sunglasses and other items after finding the money in her account.

 

Instead of reporting the error, she also gave her mother Elaine £1,000 in cash, before she was caught by police on April 24 last year.

 

After she was caught, officers discovered she had transferred £40,000 into an investment account after taking advice from her bank, which was unaware² of the mistake.

 

The mother of one was found guilty of dishonesty and retaining a wrongly credited bank transfer when she appeared at Stafford Crown Court on Monday. Recorder Derek Desmond told her: 'A little over £52,000 was put into your account in error. That had nothing to do with you. You didn't cause that error, but you decided³ to keep it.'

 

He added that Hutchings, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, was encouraged to spend the money by her boyfriend at the time.

 

He said: 'I have no doubt you were influenced by your partner – he wanted to spend the money. You went on a spending spree and between you, you spent £9,000. This man who spurred you on is no longer in your life – no doubt your family will be glad about that.'

 

Hutchings, who is believed to be a single stay-at-home mother, was given a 12-month community order and told to carry out 150 hours of unpaid⁴ work. The court heard an administrative⁵ error meant Lichfield District Council accidentally transferred £52,000 into her account instead of paying Bromford Housing Association.

 

The council managed to stop a further £44,500 being transferred into her account and desperately⁶ tried to trace her to explain the error.

 

But by the time they caught Hutchings, she had spent more than £9,000 during a shopping spree at Birmingham's Bull- ring centre.

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