A personal assistant stole more than £166,000 from her employer, and took some of it while he was away caring for his terminally ill mother. Hemalatha Jayaprakash, 44, from Great Barr, had betrayed the trust of her employer at Northwood estate agents, where she had worked for 12 years.

The made dozens of illegal transfers from business and client accounts. She stole huge sums of money despite living in a property worth £1 million and simply took the money to fund her "lavish lifestyle", Birmingham Crown heard. The mum was busted for her betrayal when accounts were reviewed ahead of the business being sold.

The founder of the estate agents, Nin Rehal, was out of the office caring for his mother, when Jayaprakash acted on "pure greed". Last week, she was for two years and three months after she admitted fraud by abuse of position. The court heard she hadn't told her family about what she'd done.

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She was hired in 2012 as an accounts manager before becoming office manager and then a personal assistant to the director. A discrepancy was discovered when Mr Rehal sold the business in December 2023 and the accounts were examined, .

It transpired payments had been made to non-existent landlords to the same bank account, which was revealed as Jayaprakash's account when she submitted an expenses claim. She was suspended in March last year but claimed she had paid £29,000 into the business herself in 2019.

Richard Davenport, prosecuting, said: "The defendant said she was paying herself back for the money she provided the business in 2019. She also said she had stolen £55,000 and offered to repay the money. That amount was a vast understatement of the amount she had actually stolen."

It was established Jayaprakash had actually taken £167,062.68 over 158 transactions between January 2021 and March 2024. She was ultimately dismissed. The court was told Jayaprakash had repaid most of the stolen money, but Mr Rehal said he had not received anything himself because funds had been withheld from the sale of the business.

In a victim impact statement he drew attention to a £6,480 sum she stole when he was out of office due to his mother dying less than 24 hours earlier. "This is the level of greed and deception and betrayal we are dealing with," said Mr Rehal who recalled how Jayaprakash turned up to his mother's funeral with 'flowers in hand'.

He said her fraud had caused him "immense" distress and "devastating" financial losses. Mr Rehal said he had to release equity from his family home to make ends meet, including supporting his two children at university. He added: "Meanwhile Mrs Jayaprakash resides in a £1m property, purchased outright in 2018, and benefits from income generated by a portfolio of at least eight rental properties."

Samreen Akhtar, defending, said: "This wasn't committed by a lady living a lavish lifestyle. The money stolen was used to pay for her child's school fees and sent to relatives in India who had lost their livelihoods (due to flooding). Nevertheless she doesn't seek to minimise the offences and she is aware the victim is in the public gallery and wishes me to apologise to them through me today."

She told the court Jayaprakash had a computer science degree and hoped to get a job in the IT industry, having resigned from another estate agent job that morning due to the "stress of these proceedings". Ms Akhtar added: "She resides with her husband and two children, both adults.

"Her family members are regrettably unaware (of her conviction). She has had no support in terms of these proceedings." But Recorder Amy Jackson expressed 'scepticism' at being told Jayaprakash had managed to swiftly repay £126,000 of the stolen money through sales of land and property in India.

She said: "Everything I have read about this lady takes me to the belief she is from an affluent background where she ought not to need to steal to fund a lifestyle and effectively does lead a lavish lifestyle. This was pure greed."

Passing sentence, the judge said: "This was a long-running and significant fraud and abuse of trust." Jayaprakash remained motionless as she was told she was being jailed immediately and would serve up to 40 per cent of the 27-month term in custody.

A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing to determine confiscation, costs and compensation was adjourned until August 26.