A PONTYPOOL woman has denied stealing from a charity shop where she was assistant manager.

Mandy Gilgrass, 51, of Sid Griffith's Court in Pontypool, denies one count of theft, namely stealing a £360 donation given to the St David's Hospice charity shop on Flanbury Road, Pontypool, in December 2012.

The court heard from witnesses called by prosecutor Andrew Davies yesterday.

Jenny Channing, the head of retail at St David's Foundation, said she was made aware of the missing money and checked the rota to see who was working on the days the money was donated and saw that it was the defendant.

She said she called Gilgrass into the back room of the shop and said she had been made aware that a lady from the Red Cross shop across the street, a Deborah Probert, had donated the money in memory of her mother who died in December 2012.

She said Gilgrass initially couldn't recall the donation but then said she had received it and had called fundraising manager Franca Negro to come and collect it.

Mrs Channing said Gilgrass hadn't followed procedure by filling out a blue form and getting the person who donated the money to sign it.

She said after doing this the defendant should have rung the money through the till and sent the blue form to head office through a weekly envelope so a thank you letter could be sent to the donator.

The witness said that on checking the records no blue form had been filled out, the money had not been rung through the till and no call log showed Gilgrass speaking to Miss Negro.

Kris Broome, fundraising director for St David's agreed with Ms Channing that no phone log could be found and he began an investigation into the whereabouts of the money.

Gilgrass, giving evidence, admitted that she had lied to police, shop manager Zdenka Beattie and Ms Channing about calling the fundraising manager Miss Negro regarding the money.

She said she had "stress and anxiety" caused by people calling her a thief which led her to leave the shop. She said the atmosphere was "unbearable".

The court heard how Gilgrass joined the shop in 2007 to complete 150 hours of unpaid work as part of a sentence for being convicted of working while on benefits.

Gilgrass stayed on at the shop for six years working her way into a paid position.

She said she got Ms Probert to fill out a blue form and called Mrs Beattie to ask what she should do and was told to put it in the safe upstairs which she did.

"As far as I was concerned I hadn't done anything wrong," she said.

"I know I didn't take it."

Proceeding.