A WIRRAL post office assistant has been convicted of stealing almost £136,000 by dishonestly using DSS benefit books.

A Liverpool Crown Court jury took just over an hour to convict Angela Edwards of 82 theft offences spanning 16 months until she was trapped by investigators in October, 1998.

During a six day trial the court heard that Edwards alleged one of the three other members of staff at the Saughall Bridge sub post office in Moreton was the culprit. Such was the strain of the false allegations that two of them including the post mistress had since left.

Remanding her on bail until February 16 for reports, Judge William George told the 50-year-old mother of five from Netherton Road, Moreton, that the case involved both a substantial amount of money and a massive breach of trust.

He warned Edwards, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, that all sentencing options were open to him and in view of the seriousness of the offences, custody would be the option.

Mr John Gibson, prosecuting, had earlier told the jury that Edwards worked at Saughall Bridge sub post office since 1993 and was regarded as a trusted employee.

But suspicions were aroused in 1998 and an investigation began with instructions given that all cashed vouchers from the office should be held at a DSS office in Northern Ireland for examination.

Vouchers examined went back to June, 1997, and at the time of her arrest in October, 1998, 1,024 vouchers from 76 benefit books were recovered. They had been cashed for a total of £135,968, said Mr Gibson.

The homes of Edwards, the sub-postmistress and two other employees were all searched and Edwards was arrested as a result.

The day before, vouchers totalling £2,113 had been dishonestly cashed at the branch where she worked and when her handbag was searched on her arrest it contained £2,110 in cash.

A further £2,000 was found in a cupboard at her home and investigations revealed that £52,668 cash had been deposited in her name or her husband's and £7,000 in premium bonds had been purchased during the previous 16 months.

Mr Gibson added that the thefts had to be committed by someone working at the post office and investigations revealed that they never occured when Edwards was off. But in just 11 days after her return from holiday in August of 1998, vouchers worth more than £11,000 were cashed.

Edwards denied all charges and said the vast majority of the money belonged to her son-in-law Peter Heaton and she was holding it so he could avoid paying tax. The money in her handbag was from customers of her catalogue agency.

A report in last week's Globe erroneously stated that Edwards had pleaded guilty to the charges instead of NOT guilty.