A supermarket worker has been convicted of being part of a £40,000 fraud by the illegal use of customer discount coupons at a Whitchurch store.

Michelle Carson had denied playing a role in the conspiracy two years ago claiming other people had used her till.

However, after a three-day trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court last week, a jury found Carson guilty of being involved in the plot.

Carson, 43, of Wrexham Road, had denied a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of her position.

She was said to be one of eight Whitchurch women involved in the coupon fraud at the Co-op Store in Wrexham Road. The seven other women have all pleaded guilty to their part in the fraud.

Over the course of 2016 the women repeatedly re-used discount vouchers, including one for £10 that they had been laminated to preserve it.

The court heard that Carson claimed she had had no involvement with the scheme and that other people must have used her till to process the fraudulent transactions.

It was usual for the size of store in Wrexham Road to scan about £1,000 worth of coupons a year but the fraud was estimated to have cost around £40,000.

During the trial one of the conspirators, 26-year-old Yazmin Moore, who had worked at the shop for seven years, told the jury she considered Carson a mother figure.

She told the court that if customers did not take their coupons or left before the voucher came out of the till they would be kept by staff.

Coupons were kept in a bag by the till and later used by the store staff to reduce their own shopping bills.

Moore said on one occasion her own shopping came to £25.22 and a £2 voucher was scanned 12 times leaving her with just £1.22 to pay.

She said she had never seen or known of Carson using coupons for her own shopping, but would put through shopping for her using the coupons.

The conspiracy was discovered in November 2016 after it was noticed three of the store workers had frequently used the discount coupons.

Stashes of coupons were found after staff were later asked to go through their bags during a health and safety audit.

Carson, along with Moore, of Queensway, and the other six conspirators – Sophie Birch, 21, of Gilbert Lane, Susan Broster, 59, of Wrexham Road, Lana Kennedy, 22, of Alkington Road, Drive, Sally Smith, 49, of Caldicott Crescent, and Louise Wyker, 39, of Tilstock – are all due to be sentenced on October 19. They all remain on bail.