A Co Roscommon woman who stole € 20,000 from her company's sports and social club and spent the money on luxury holidays and shopping trips has been jailed for six months.

Nicola Henry, of Carrownegh, Kiltoom, Co Roscommon, forged her colleagues' signatures to make out 37 cheques in her own name.

 

At the time of the offending, from April 2014 to September 2015, Ms Henry was an office manager at Johnson & Johnson.

She was also secretary of the employee Social Club at the Tallaght-based company.

During that time, she received just over € 17k from 27 forged cheques. She spent the money on luxury holidays to Australia, Sri Lanka and Dubai.

She also treated herself to expensive nights out as well as shopping trips and beauty treatments.

Even after she was caught, she used the company credit card to spend a further € 3,233.

The court heard she was depressed and stole the money to fund this lavish lifestyle as a method of "escapism" to deal with it.

Judge Pauline Codd sentenced her to two years in prison but suspended the final 18 months of her sentence.