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Barclays manager, Vaijawanthi Aneet, escapes jail after court hears she was coerced into stealing money by an unknown male assailant

A senior Barclays Bank manager who used invisible ink to keep a secret diary while siphoning more than £14,000 from a customer's account, has been spared jail.

Vaijawanthi Aneet, 37, kept meticulous notes of more than 20 withdrawals while raiding the customer's account between May and November 2013.

Indian-born Aneet, a premier relationship manager at Barclays branches in Holborn and Fenchurch Street, set up a new savings account for customer William Giles in order to carry out the fraud.

She then moved the funds to a dormant account before withdrawing the money from a cash machine, the Old Bailey heard.

In order to keep track of the transactions, she used invisible ink, writing entries such as: “To pay back with good interest, asap.”

The court heard that when she had eventually been confronted over the allegations, she had produced a notebook which appeared to be blank.

But after colouring it in, the Old Bailey heard that writing had become visible which tracked the withdrawals along with the amount taken.

Aneet admitted the fraud, but claimed she had been forced into it by a man who had assaulted her and demanded money from her.

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Oliver Blunt QC, defending, said Aneet had already paid back all the money she took by surrendering her Barclays pension pot.

Judge Richard Marks QC, the Common Serjeant of London, gave her a three month jail sentence suspended for a year, and ordered her to pay £2300 court costs.

“This has obviously been an extremely traumatic event for you, which has taken a very heavy toll on you and your husband,” the judge told her.

“I'm quite satisfied this is an offence completely out of character, and not something that will ever occur in the future.

“You could and should have done something about this when first it happened.

“The matter is sufficiently serious it can only be dealt with by a sentence of imprisonment, but having regard to the unusual circumstances here, it's a case where a suspended sentence is appropriate.”

Prosecutor Michael Hall said the funds had been taken between May and November 2013, without Mr Giles noticing.

“In the course of more than 20 transactions, it was put into an account she had opened on his behalf without his knowledge,” he said.

“From there, she was to transfer the money into a hitherto dormant account.”

He said when confronted over the transactions, Aneet produced a notebook that appeared to be blank.

Aneet gave no comment in interview but claimed in court she had been under duress when she committed the fraud.

Mr Blunt said Aneet was attacked as she left the branch in Fenchurch Street and again outside the Holborn branch by the man who forced her to commit the frauds.

The court heard she gave £11,000 to an unknown man and kept £3,400 for herself.

“She used some of it in an unsuccessful attempt to win back the money, with a view to repaying it,” added Mr Hall.

Mr Blunt said Aneet is now five months pregnant and has been bedridden since she found out she was expecting a child, having suffered three previous miscarriages.

He said the Indian-born banker came to the UK in 2009 on a work visa, and an application to stay longer is currently with the Home Office.