A postmistress who stole from her Post Office to prop up a struggling shop has been given six months to pay back more than £11,500... or face prison.

Lesley Jordan, postmistress at both The Ham, on the edge of Westbury, and Dilton Marsh, plundered more than £20,000 from the coffers of the post office counter business to help pay the wages and order stock for the convenience stores.

Now the 44-year-old, who represented herself as she is not entitled to legal aid, has been ordered to pay back what she can under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

A judge ruled she had benefitted from crime by £21,600.54p but only had £11,581.88p in realisable assets.

He said Jordan, who has already voluntarily handed back £10,000, must pay over the smaller sum within the next six months or face a two-month jail term.

The mother-of-three, formerly living at Paxmans Road, Westbury, but now of Ramsbury Drive, Salisbury, was put on a suspended sentence in July last year after pleading guilty to one charge of fraud.