A bank manager who stole more than $46,000 from Bank of Butterfield in St. George?s has been jailed for a year.

Mia Shawnette Butterfield, 37, had originally denied the charges but in the middle of a Supreme Court trial in February swapped her plea to guilty.

At her sentencing yesterday Prosecutor Paula Tyndale said that change of plea and her previous clean record were the only mitigating factors. She said: ?She abused her position of trust.?

The crime had led to the sacking of one of the bank tellers and had eroded public confidence in the system, said Ms. Tyndale, while a Social Inquiry Report had failed to unearth why Butterfield had taken the money.

Ms Tyndale had called for a sentence of up to three years for the stealing.

Defence lawyer Mark Pettingill agreed that a custodial sentence in order but said the offence was out of character.

?She?s been a hardworking, conscientious and well thought of woman by her peers in this community. She?s an outstanding mother. Her main focus in life is her children.

?One of the biggest factors is the shame my client has brought upon herself. She feels a great weight of burden as a result of the shame and embarrassment, particularly in the face of her family, her friends and most of all her children.?

Mr. Pettingill indicated the money had helped maintain the family in a better style and he said a long sentence would keep the family apart so he called for a jail term of no more that 12 months.

The defendant mumbled a brief apology before Supreme Court judge Carlisle Greaves sentenced her to 12 months in prison.

Butterfield had joined the bank in March 1996 as a teller and had been promoted to supervisor and then branch manager in September 2001, although she still filled in as a teller when needed.

She had sole control of a cash box, sometimes kept in a minivault, but a tip off alerted the General Bank Auditor that a number of bank policies were being violated and she should pay close attention to the cash boxes.

When the auditor arrived at the St. George?s branch on January 20, 2003 she announced a surprise cash count but Butterfield said she had left her key at home and denied having a spare.

Other tellers had their cash boxes audited without incident but Butterfield tried to put off the opening of hers by falsely claiming she had a meeting at her child?s school.

Told to hand over the keys Butterfield then claimed she couldn?t find them. She then showed up at work unexpectedly and ordered the head teller to order bundles of cash and place them in cash case drawer of the commercial teller.

The head teller reported the bizarre request to her supervisor. Eventually a spare key was located but before Butterfield?s box was even open was over the defendant complained bundles were missing.

It was discovered that $35,045 of Bermuda currency was missing and $4,340 of US currency was missing.

An investigation showed Butterfield had consistently broken bank rules by keeping large balances in her boxes and she had occasionally borrowed money for her own use while instructing the head teller to falsify the teller journal to hide the figures.

Just before the surprise audit Butterfield paid back $6,914.

It was also revealed that in October 2002, just before going on holiday, Butterfield pretended to pay out totals from her cash box by filling out a form although the cash was never handed to the head teller.

Upon her return the paperwork was amended to show no transaction had been done. Both Butterfield and the head teller were sacked after the bank?s investigation.

So far only $6,914 of the missing $46,300-plus cash has been returned to the bank.