Diane Felkin will spend a minimum two-and-a-half years behind bars for the large-scale fraud, which was deepened by the complete position of trust she occupied within the business, Wollongong District Court heard on Wednesday.

Ms Felkin spent nearly seven years conning Batemans Bay Motors, using her unrestricted access to the dealership’s funds to pilfer money and transfer it into her own bank accounts.

Concealing the numerous fraudulent transactions with references to non-existent staff pay-outs, vehicles and purported tax transfers, Ms Felkin stole $1,150,862.18 before the dodgy deals were revealed in 2008.

Sentencing her on Wednesday, Judge Paul Conlon said the offences involved a large amount of money and were committed over a lengthy period of time.

He noted Ms Felkin had stolen funds from a family who had completely trusted her to run the financial side of their business, investing so much faith in her that she was able to disguise the bogus transfers for many years.

The court heard Ms Felkin had “positioned herself as (a) paragon of virtue concerning matters of dishonesty”, yet had greatly deceived her employers.

Between 2001 and 2007, Ms Felkin made 114 unauthorised transactions from the business’s accounts, transferring cash into three accounts in her name before she handed it over to her then 21-year-old son to

gamble, the court heard.

Judge Conlon admitted he had some difficulty accepting Ms Felkin’s claims her husband knew nothing about his son’s gambling addiction or the stolen money until the fraud was exposed.

Ms Felkin argued her son had approached her for assistance and she began squeezing her own finances, handing over between $30,000 to $40,000.

Believing her son would take his own life if his debts weren’t paid, she started knocking off money from her employer, comparing her son’s actions to that of a “stand-over man” demanding cash.

Judge Conlon said Ms Felkin’s son may have threatened to commit suicide if she did not give him money but he had not been called to give evidence, making it difficult to validate her assertions.

While the judge conceded Ms Felkin was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her eldest son’s suicide, he said it was difficult to know whether it was operating at the time of the fraud.

“I can accept on the balance of probabilities her continuing post-traumatic stress disorder would have at least contributed, (making) her unable to come to sensible, rational decisions about any (pressure) put on her by her son,” he said

The court heard Ms Felkin had been taking anti-depressant medication and had good prospects of rehabilitation.

She was sentenced to an overall five-and-a-half years’ jail after pleading guilty to 18 counts of obtaining money by deception.

A further 86 charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.