Mum wails after she is jailed for £166k theft

PERSONAL ASSISTANT WHO LIVED IN £1M HOME STOLE FROM ESTATE AGENT

- CARL JACKSON

A 'GREEDY' personal assistant who stole more than £166,000 from her employer despite living in a £1 million house and having a rental property empire has been jailed.

Mum-of-two Hemalatha Jayaprakash was heard wailing as she was led down to the cells at Birmingham Crown Court, which heard she had supposedly not told her family what she had done.

The 44-year-old had worked at city centre-based Northwood estate agents for 12 years but made dozens of illegal transfers from business and client accounts to herself.

She claimed she used some of the money to pay her child's school fees and help relatives in India who lost their homes due to flooding.

Narinder Rehal, the business owner at the time, said he had been left devastated by her betrayal, having learned she also took money while he was out of the office caring for his terminally-ill mother.

Jayaprakash, of Queslett Road, Great Barr, admitted fraud by abuse of position and was sentenced to two years and three months.

She was hired in 2012 as an accounts manager before becoming office manager and then a personal assistant to the director.

A £26,000 discrepancy was discovered when Mr Rehal sold the business in December 2023 and the accounts were examined.