A single mother who stole £128,180 from her employers was spared jail.

Alison Whelan, 28, of Station Road, Cowfold, walked from court after a judge decided he would not separate her from her five-month-old daughter.

She broke down in tears of relief as the ruling was made.

Between May 2000 and October 2002 Whelan stole the money by making bogus insurance claims in the names of friends while working for Europ Assistance Insurance, in Haywards Heath, where she had worked for five years.

Whelan had cheques sent to her friends. They would then split the amount.

Her dishonesty was finally noticed in November 2002 and, in an interview with her company, she admitted the theft. She was arrested in January 2003 following an investigation.

She appeared before Lewes Crown Court yesterday charged with four counts of false accounting, five counts of theft and three counts of attempted theft.

Sentencing her to 18 months, suspended for two years, Judge Richard Hayward said her motive had been greed.

He said: "Judges don't like sending mothers with small children to prison if it can possibly be avoided. The separation could have a lasting damaging affect on the child."

Whelan has already paid back some of the money. The judge ordered her to pay a further £15,000 compensation.