A BANK cashier acted as a criminal gang's insider to help plunder £250,000 from pensioners' acc-ounts, a court was told.

Shaazia Ul-Haq, who is from Nelson, has been jailed for three years for her part in the "sophisticated" crime.

But Ul-Haq never revealed the identity of the crime bosses behind the foiled plot, and she is the only person to have been caught.

The fraudsters planned to launder the cheques to accounts in Marbella, Spain, the court heard.

But their con was uncovered before any of the money could be switched overseas.

Ul-Haq, 24, knew one of the team would come to her counter at the Northern Rock in Newcastle armed with fake ID and pretending to be an legitimate customer at the busy Market Street branch.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how she gave the unidentified accomplice cheques for £90,000, £85,000 and £65,000 from the savings accounts of three unsuspecting pensioners.

She also gave the accomplice £1,500 in cash.

Ul-Haq, who moved to the North East from the Pendle town to become a business student, was working part-time at the branch.

Ul-Haq, now of Sunderland, was arrested after the bank brought in police.

And although she claimed she too had been duped and knew nothing about the scam, a jury took only 40 minutes to find her guilty of conspiracy to defraud.

Judge John Milford said: "This was a sophisticated fraud.

"Your job was to provide the signed cheques from within the bank, to deal with the paperwork and to obtain the signatures of other unsuspecting employees.

"The aggravating features are that this was a breach of trust. The money, had the fraud succeeded, was going to go overseas.

"The account holders were in two cases aged 67 and the other an elderly woman who was 85.

"Although you have not levelled accusations of dishonesty against fellow employees your behaviour and the conduct of your case has caused embarrassment to them because they made the mistake of trusting you and signed the cheques.

"This case is so serious no sentence other than a custodial sentence can be justified."

The scam happened in August 2004. Ul-Haq's accomplice - a middle aged Asian woman captured on CCTV - came to her counter twice in the space of four hours to be given the first two cheques.

She returned to make the final transaction just days later.

Ul-Haq, described as a popular and trusted member of the staff, received a text message just minutes after one of the transactions saying "Nick says you were absolutely brilliant. Well done."

No-one else has been brought to justice over the fraud.