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Suspended jail term for memorial fund thief Natalie Thomas Suspended jail term for memorial fund thief Natalie Thomas
(35 minutes later)
A woman who stole £8,500 from a friend's memorial fund has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence.A woman who stole £8,500 from a friend's memorial fund has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence.
Natalie Thomas, 25, of Whitland, Carmarthenshire, offered to help with the fund, set up after Laura Rees died in a car crash in 2012. Natalie Thomas, 25, of Whitland, Carmarthenshire, took the money from the Bandi Appeal, set up after Laura Rees died in a car crash in 2012.
Swansea Crown Court heard the money was supposed to go towards a hospital's children's wing but she admitted "dipping into the fund". The money was for a new sick children's unit at Glangwili Hospital but Thomas admitted "dipping into the fund".
The court heard she intended to pay it back but was not able to. Swansea Crown Court heard the money has been repaid after another friend took out a loan for Thomas.
An earlier hearing at Llanelli Magistrates' Court was told Thomas organised a charity night, including a quiz, karaoke and an auction to help raise money in her friend's memory. Ms Rees, 22, a nursery worker from St Clears, near Carmarthen, died on the A40 her way to be fitted for a bridesmaid dress.
Nursery worker Ms Rees, of St Clears, near Carmarthen, died in October 2012 in the head-on collision on her way to have a bridesmaid dress fitted. Her friends decided to raise money in her name and Thomas organised a charity night, which raised more than £10,000.
She was later buried in the dress. But after stealing from the fund, Thomas, who had received treatment for depression because her mother and grandfather were ill, found she could not pay the money back.
In sentencing, Mr Justice Christopher Vosper QC also made Thomas the subject of a supervision order and she will have to attend a thinking skills course and carry out 150 hours unpaid community work.