An accountant who stole £350,000 from her employers walked free after a judge said she would not fit in in prison.  

Natalie Saul, 37, from Wandsworth, south London raided technology firm Idio's accounts to feed her gambling addiction and blew more than £250,000 playing online poker.

The mother-of-one submitted more than 400 fake invoices to get the cash from the software company between March 2015 and December 2016.

But Saul was given a two-year suspended sentence and 250 hours unpaid work by Judge Catherine Newman, who admitted her sentence was 'wholly exceptional' and fell outside sentencing guidelines. 

She told Southwark Crown Court Saul was 'not the general stuff of which the prison population is made'.

The judge added: 'I'm taking a considerable risk that the Crown will think it lenient and appeal, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.'

Lucie Daniels, defending Saul, had argued her client was 'shaken' by the loss of her grandmother in 2013 and was a committed charity worker.

'This offending is so out of character, she has worked hard and paid her taxes and been a responsible citizen,' said Ms Daniels. Yet her charitable efforts could not mitigate the loss to Idio, who hemorrhaged a total of £348,439 to her gambling addiction.

Saul's deception relied on her privileged role as office manager for the firm. She created fake invoices to the company which she sent to herself.

She then altered the details to her own bank account, paid herself the cash, and switched the bank details back to avoid detection.

Finally she marked the invoices as paid, using her knowledge of the company auditing system to escape attention.

The fraudster was caught when she went on maternity leave in December 2016 and a new CFO took over and spotted hundreds of fake invoices.

It was only after she was challenged by the company that she confessed her crimes, and admitted one count of fraud at Westminster Magistrates Court on July 13.

Judge Newman said she was on the brink of giving her a sentence of three years and four months, before being persuaded she was unfit for prison. 'You abused your position of control over your employers bank account,' said the judge.

'You devised and created over 400 accounts for stealing money by a fraud using a sophisticated method which involved some planning.

'Each account required six steps. First you raised fake invoices to the company account system.

'Secondly you used knowledge of auditing to reduce risk of detection. You amended the bank details of the recipient to your own bank account.

'You paid the invoices to yourself. Then you changed the bank details back to the original supplier.

'Finally you marked the invoices as paid. You did this for over a year. It has caused considerable harm to your employer which could ill afford to lose such a substantial sum, but thankfully survived.

'Your grandmother's death rocked the stability of your hitherto good citizenship. You had a steady partner who had no idea of your gambling addiction and stands by you.

'I'm prepared to take the wholly exceptional course of reducing your sentence and suspend it.'

Saul burst into tears as Judge Newman told her the sentence was suspended.

Saul was given a two-year suspended sentence and 250 hours community order for one count of fraud by abuse of position.