A BANK worker faces jail after being found guilty of stripping £17,000 from two customer accounts - just two weeks after one of them had died.

Anne Peterson, 59, of Somerset Road, Barry was on trial accused of stealing the money from two elderly customers who had banked with Lloyds for many years.

She diverted their bank statements to hide any trace of the transactions that she made using her own staff log in details.

Peterson told Cardiff Crown Court that she was on holiday when the transactions took place - and even said her colleagues were responsible after logging in with her details at the branch in.

But the jury rejected that and took just under an hour to find her guilty of four counts of fraud.

Prosecutor Ieuan Bennett said that Peterson stripped £12,000 from an account belonging to Rona Wilson, 92, - £4,000 of which was taken just a fortnight after her death.

Mrs Wilson's daughter Christine Eddins told the court that the signature on a withdrawal slip was not her mother's, and the transactions were 'entirely unlawful'.

Peterson's second victim William Tovey, 83, paid in £20,000 to an ISA account - but six unexplained withdrawals totalling £5,080 in 2012 flagged suspicions.

Giving evidence, he told the court: "I've used the bank for 50 years. I never took anything out at all."

Mr Bennett said: "The statements were diverted so he would not be able to find out what was going on. This was effectively the defendant covering her tracks."

Peterson, of Barry, said that she was on holiday when the money was swiped from Mr Tovey's account.

She said in police interview: "If those transactions are on my file number then somebody has been using my file number."

Judge Stephen Hopkins QC adjourned sentencing until June 23.

"You have been convicted, in my view, on compelling and overwhelming evidence," the judge told Peterson.

"You ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself."