Slimmer spared a jail sentence

A bank clerk who admitted ordering charge cards on customers' accounts was spared a jail sentence yesterday after the court heard that she had acted "irrationally" while taking slimming pills.

Tania Kilford, 31, of Portslade, East Sussex, had also suffered post- natal depression, Lewes Crown Court heard.

Judge Stephen Lloyd said that her crime deserved prison but because of the exceptional circumstances he sentenced her to 180 hours' community service.

He said: "It is quite apparent to me that the combination of that depression with this drug did in my view lead you into totally unnatural behaviour.

Ms Kilford, who admitted theft and obtaining property by deception, used computer records to order herself charge cards on customers' accounts. She used them to buy goods worth pounds 2,300.