A finance assistant at non-league Dover Athletic football club this afternoon avoided a "red card" after pocketing £15,000.

Thieving mum-of-one Michelle Parker stole cash 40 times during a 10-month period between November 2014 and September last year.

Now a judge has heard that the missing cash has hurt the club’s community work with the poorest children in the area.

But 44-year-old Parker, of Gatekeepers Chase, Rainham, avoided going straight to prison for the breach of trust theft.

Instead she was given a 20-month sentence suspended for 18 months – and because she is in debt, she hasn’t been ordered to pay back a penny.

But Judge Heather Norton told her that as she had effectively stolen from the community she should carry out 300 hours of unpaid work for the community as punishment.

"Her conduct was utterly inexcusable but she feels remorse. She was up to her eyeballs in debt" - John Barker, defending

Prosecutor Laura Phillips said Parker was only one of two paid employees at the club which is run “by an army of unpaid volunteers”.

But behind everyone’s back, the former financial adviser was in huge debt after her divorce and with bailiffs at the door, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Her thieving was only exposed when the finance chief discovered a payment had been diverted into her bank account.

Even then, the prosecutor revealed, although she admitted stealing she said it was only 10 to 15 times.

But the truth was she had THREE secret bank accounts and only admitted the full extent of her stealing months later in a second interview with police.

Her lawyer John Barker told the judge: “Her conduct was utterly inexcusable but she feels remorse. She was up to her eyeballs in debt.”

But he denied Parker had been living a lavish lifestyle and claimed she hadn’t been on holiday since 2012.

“After her divorce her life went on a downward spiral," he added.

Parker wept after being told that she deserved going to prison but the judge was going to suspend the sentence.

She also ordered Parker to wear an electronic tag for the next three months and remain at her home from 7pm to 7am.