A Nationwide cashier who stole thousands of pounds from vulnerable customers has been jailed after she was caught out by colleagues when she posted Facebook pictures of her 'lavish' holidays.

Kelly Kershaw, 54, earned £1,400-per-month working as a cashier for the building society, but frequently boasted about her luxurious trips on Facebook, including to Dubai, the Maldives and Indonesia.  

The mother-of-two posted pictures of skiing trips, safaris and romantic European getaways on social media where she bragged she was 'living and loving life one adventure at a time.'

She also visited Paris, Tuscany, and Greek islands for a Mamma Mia inspired trip, as well as Mexico and Norway. 

Kershaw, from Nefyn in north Wales, worked in Nationwide's Caernarfon branch for 18 years, and was regarded as a trusted member of staff.    

But the cashier, who drove a personalised BMW convertible, was making fake cash withdrawals from elderly or vulnerable customers and pocketing their money, Caernarfon Crown Court was told. 

Kershaw admitted five counts of fraud, during 2023 and 2024, and was jailed for 16 months.

Her victims included an 85-year-old man who had lost some 'cognitive abilities' after suffering a stroke - and she stole £6,300 from him. 

Another was a 49-year-old man who suffered learning difficulties who lost £1,400 to Kershaw - and 'ironically' had his bank card kept in the branch as he was a previous victim of fraud. 

Prosecutor Elen Owen said Kershaw had been transferred to work at the branch in Caernarfon, North Wales in June 2020, which had a 'high number of vulnerable customers.'   

'After a while co-workers noticed the defendant appeared to have a lavish lifestyle,' she said.

'She was regularly going on expensive foreign holidays and there were other indications of extravagant spending.'

Ms Owen said 'due to the suspicions raised' an internal probe was launched by Nationwide and identified five victims.

She said Kershaw would process cash withdrawals from accounts but pocket either some or all of the money for herself.

Ms Owen said Kershaw was interviewed by financial investigator John Hancock in November 2024 and admitted what she had done and was arrested by police.

She said: 'The total amount which can be shown to be taken fraudulently is £8,605, the building society did however reimburse customers to the total of £12,630.'

Amy Edwards, defending, said Kershaw, who now worked in the office of a cleaning firm was suffering from a 'compulsive spending addiction' at the time.

She said: 'She gave a full and frank admission to the offence and showed remorse to each of her victims. That is genuine remorse and regret for what she did.'

Judge Timothy Petts said Kershaw needed to be jailed as a 'deterrent' to other cashiers so as to 'prevent others from doing the same.'

He told her: 'While working as a building society cashier in Caernarfon you systematically stole £8,605 from five elderly or vulnerable customers over a period of 11 months.

'Your pattern of offending was repeated. You forged peoples signatures or you would take their card to withdraw a large sum from the account and only hand over part of it.

'You were asked why you targeted those people in particular, you said they were 'easy targets who wouldn't notice the money going from their accounts.'

'The reality is you only stopped stealing money because suspicions were raised about your lifestyle, investigations took place and your fraud was discovered.'

He added: 'Appropriate punishment in this case can only be achieved in my view by immediate custody.

'The reality is such sustained fraud and breach of trust against vulnerable customers has to be taken very seriously.

'It shakes the confidence and trust in Nationwide and other financial institutions if cashiers in positions of trust such as you can skim off £8,000-plus without any consequences. Cashiers have to be trusted.'

All victims had all been reimbursed by Nationwide but a proceeds of crime hearing is due to take place later this year to cover losses to the building society.