A VILLAGE sub-post mistress who helped herself to cash from the till because of debts was sent to prison today.

Deborah Evans was told by a judge today that by taking £4,665 she had breached the trust of the Post Office as well as the public.

Villagers in Goodnestone, near Canterbury, sent a letter of support for the mother-of-five to Maidstone Crown Court in an attempt to win her freedom.

But Mr Recorder John Hillen jailed 47-year-old Evans for four months, telling her she would be released after two months.

Anthony Lenaghan, prosecuting, said Evans had run the sub-post office and general store for three-and-a-half years before being suspended on February 18.

The cash shortage was discovered when an audit was being carried out. Evans immediately volunteered that she had "borrowed" the money to pay bailiffs.

She later told Post Office investigators that the most she took at one time was £100 and she used it to pay for shopping and petrol.

Evans, of Brickfield Cottages, Cave Lane, Goodnestone, admitted theft between July 1 2004 and February 16 this year.

John O’Higgins, defending, said Evans went into the post office business because of her partner’s debilitating illness.

They sold their home in Eastbourne and bought the lease to the sub-post office. She had a contract with the Post Office and was paid just £4,720 a year to provide the service.

"The reality is that it just didn’t work out," said Mr O’Higgins. "From the start, the enterprise didn’t work. Within a short time they were in debt. The situation got worse and worse and became desperate."

Evans kept meticulous records of what she took, intending to pay it back. She repaid some, using her child benefit.

"She had invested everything she had in this business and it went horribly wrong," said Mr O’Higgins.

Evans tried to continue to provide a service for the village. When she could no longer get newspapers because she could not pay the bills, she went to other shops and bought them at full price to supply her customers.

Recorder Hillen said it was "a kindly act, but economic disaster".

Urging the court to impose a community rehabilitation order, Mr O’Higgins said: "She still lives in the village. It has been a most agreeable and happy experience to see the support in the community. The support has been remarkable."

Recorder Hillen told Evans: "There are ways of dealing with these problems, some of them unpalatable. Instead, you resorted to dishonesty. Such dishonesty cannot be tolerated and must result in punishment to you and a sentence which deters others."

Had she pleaded not guilty, he said, the sentence would have been 12 months. It was reduced to four months "as an act of mercy" because of her family situation.