A court has been told how a manager in a bingo club has admitted to siphoning money from customers’ accounts into her boyfriends account. Emma Dudley, 41, now faces a jail sentence after the thefts of £1,447 from bingo players accounts between June and September of this year.

Dudley was employed as a Club Operations Manager at the Gala Bingo club in Westfield Road, Peterborough when she committed the crimes. At the Peterborough Magistrates Court on Friday she pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of her position.

Prosecutor, Anthea Harris, told the court how the defendant’s crimes had gone undetected for three before being court. She added:: “Dudley had worked as a supervisor at Gala Bingo since June this year, until she was caught in September.

“During that time she accessed customer’s betting accounts, withdrew funds, and transferred the money to her boyfriend’s account.

“She then withdrew all the money, and spent it on bills, debts and on her daughter, herself and her partner.

“The bingo club launched an internal investigation, and she admitted what she had been doing.

“She also said that her boyfriend had no idea what she was doing.

“She told him that she was using his account to play bingo, as she was not allowed to set up an account herself because of her job, and the money she was bringing home was winnings from her bingo sessions.

“The aggravating features of this offence are that it went on for three months, there was a clear abuse of trust, and it involved a relatively significant sum of money.”

Defending, Sara Young, asked for a pre-sentence report to be carried out by the probation service.

Miss Young told the court: “The defendant has no previous convictions of any kind.

“She also has a significant history of mental health problems.”

While Judge Ken Sheraton agreed to the report request, he did suggest that Dudley could still face a jail sentence.

He added: “This is clearly a serious matter, and one where I have to consider if a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

The defendant was granted bail until the next hearing scheduled for 16th January when it is expected sentencing will be handed out.