A 35-year-old woman was sentenced to prison on Friday after admitting to stealing and forging cheques.

Wendy Frances-Lightbourne of Devonshire pleaded guilty to several counts of cheque theft and forgery. She was also charged with having no driver's licence but pleaded not guilty.

Crown counsel Larissa Burgess told the court that between April 1 and 18, 2004, six Bank of Butterfield business cheques totalling $9,000 were stolen from John Barritt & Son where Frances-Lightbourne was previously employed.

Frances-Lightbourne admitted to forging signatures on the cheques and depositing them into her account. She would later, the same day, withdraw the money from her account. She also wrote cheques in the amount of $4,500 to Sean Hollis.

Ms Burgess said that Frances-Lightbourne claimed that she had used the money to pay outstanding bills but also had previous convictions for similar offences.

When asked if she had anything to say before sentencing, Frances-Lightbourne asked the court for leniency, saying she is undergoing cancer treatment and that she had believed that the charges against her had been dropped by Mr. Barritt.

Prior to Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo handing down a sentence, however, another charge against Frances-Lightbourne was presented.

The court heard from Crown counsel Larissa Burgess that on January 2, 2008, Frances-Lightbourne forged the signature of Ms Irene Frances (no relation) for a Government Bank of Bermuda cheque in the amount of $4,981.

Ms Frances received a message from a Child and Family Service (CFS) employee saying her cheque was ready for collection. Frances-Lightbourne went to Child and Family Services and signed for cheque under the name I. Frances.

When Ms Irene Frances went to CFS to collect cheque, she was told it had already been collected. Ms Frances told staff at CFS that the signature on their records was not hers.

When questioned about the incident by Police, Frances-Lightbourne claimed she had believed that the cheque was actually hers because she had done some work for CFS.

Ms Frances-Lightbourne again apologised to the court for her actions and asked for leniency due to her cancer treatments.

"Ms Frances (Lightbourne), you've been sorry since 1996, for similar offences and now you're relying on your sickness," Mr. Tokunbo replied. I think a custodial sentence is necessary and immediate."

She was sentenced to serve a total of two years in prison.