A bookkeeper stole more than £80,000 from her employers and used some of the money to pay off credit cards and to help her father’s failing business, a court heard.

Anne Broad committed the deception for three years before it was discovered by her boss at family firm Heronswood Press in Tunbridge Wells.

Now the 31-year-old mother, of Redloaf Close, Tunbridge Wells, is facing sentence after admitting theft.

Maidstone Crown Court was told that Broad was originally charged with stealing almost £100,000, but the prosecution accepted her plea on the basis of £80,484.

Paul Valder, prosecuting, said Broad joined the company based at the Spa Industrial Estate in Longfield Road when bookkeeper Yvonne Baker was due to retire.

Broad had been running her father’s haulage business in Essex and was offered the part-time job at Heronswood by managing director Nigel Room.

Mr Valder said there was some friction between the two women, who operated different systems. Broad started to take work home with her.

“Miss Baker decided she had had enough and left, leaving the defendant with sole responsibility,” he said.

Mr Room noticed Broad had overpaid herself. She explained it as a mistake and said she would pay it back.

It was while she was on holiday in August 2005 that Mr Room found discrepancies. He saw that figures were unusually low and discovered bogus invoices.

He contacted the bank and retrieved cheques. They had not been made out to companies but to the bank or to cash. Only Mr Room or his mother were authorised to sign cheques.

Mr Room’s signature had been forged. He confronted Broad, who was also running a shoe business, and she tried to bluff her way out of it. She said she had been depressed and felt under pressure.

Mr Room gave her the chance to repay the money she took. She handed over £27,000 over the next three months but when no more was forthcoming Mr Room felt he had no alternative but to call the police.

The money she took included £30,000 she gave to her father’s business OK Transport and sums paid to credit card companies and into a savings account in Essex.

Judge Martin Joy adjourned sentence for medical and probation reports until August 5.