A conwoman preyed on the John Clark Motor Group dealership which briefly employed her and pocketed thousands of pounds as a result.

Now Charlotte Roche is being held in custody awaiting sentence after Aberdeen Sheriff Court learned of her track record of fraud, which the dealership and even prosecutors had seemed unaware of.

Roche has been convicted of the theft of £3,000 from the dealer group’s BMW dealership. It occured in late 2014 when she was employed for five weeks as a service assistant.

When her boss Raymond Henderson grew suspicious and the accounts department discovered missing customer payments for services, Roche was suddenly taken ill and rushed to hospital, reports The Scotsman.

Henderson eventually convinced her to pay back £1,000 just before Christmas after getting her to confess over the phone.

But 31-year-old Roche claimed during the trial that she felt pressured into giving a false admission of guilt while she was under the influence of strong medication, and that she was being “framed” by colleagues who had set her up.

However sheriff Eric Brown said he had not found her evidence “credible or reliable”.

And although prosecutors in Aberdeen described the theft as her first offence, after her conviction sheriff Brown discovered she had pocketed 30,000 euros in a previous con at a bodyshop in her native Ireland, when she failed to process 136 customer payments.

And a few months before the thefts at John Clark Motor Group, Roche had conned a boyfriend she met through a dating website into giving her more than £14,000 when she claimed she needed private treatments for ovarian cancer. That earned her a six-month suspended jail sentence.

Roche, of Aberdeen, had her sentence deferred until next month. She was remanded in custody meantime.