article_snippet: A disgraced council worker who used taxpayers' cash to go on a £3,500 spending spree on iPads and mobile phones for her has been spared jail.
article_snippet: Maria Spruce, 40, was trusted with a local authority credit card but used a local authority credit card to buy the top-of-the-range products and a laptop computer.
article_snippet: Town hall bosses at Wolverhampton City Council became suspicious while Spruce, an electoral registration assistant, was on a three-week holiday to Australia last November.
article_snippet: Town hall bosses at Wolverhampton City Council discovered that she had made 47 unauthorised purchases on the card, totalling £3,517, over a six-month period last year.
article_snippet: Judge John Warner said: 'You had been trusted with the credit card but used the credit card in a dishonest way. '
article_snippet: Prosecutor Joanne Barker said: 'A colleague covering the duties of the defendant opened a credit card statement and saw a credit card statement had been used for purchases that were not legitimate office business. '
article_snippet: Wendy Miller, defending, said: 'This was not a sophisticated fraud and was always going to be detected. '
article_snippet: Town hall bosses at Wolverhampton City Council (pictured) discovered that Spruce had made 47 unauthorised purchases on the card .
highlights_snippet: Council worker used local authority credit card to buy phones and iPads .
  
highlights_snippet: Mother-of-one made 47 unauthorised purchases but will not be jailed .
  