AN Essex Police desk clerk who was found guilty of stealing £55 from a wallet handed in at Colchester police station will be sentenced next month.

Nicola Grey, 55, worked at the police station's front desk when she pocketed the cash whilst at the same time telling a man over the phone that his wallet had no money inside.

She denied one charge of theft but a jury sitting at Ipswich Crown Court found her guilty on Wednesday.

They deliberated for three hours and 59 minutes before reaching their verdict.

The court was told Grey, of St Denis Close, Harwich, had put the money in her trouser pocket in October 2022 and only realised she had taken the cash when she got dressed the following day.

In a police interview, Grey told officers she suffers from memory loss, saying it was “just menopausal or just brain fog, or something”.

The member of the public who handed in the wallet – and hadn’t touched the cash inside – was said to have become “angry and distressed” when he started being blamed for the money’s disappearance.

Grey will be sentenced before Judge Martyn Levett on Thursday, January 23.