A gold shop clerk was sentenced to 235 years in prison for allegedly stealing jewellery worth half-a-million British pounds from her boss in Thailand.

The trusted employee, Somjit Khumduang, had been working for around 10 years both cleaning and tending to customers at the store in Khon Kaen province.

Her boss said he started suspecting her after a gold necklace tumbled out of her apron pocket while she was on lunch break in the staff kitchen on September 9.

Somjit claimed the item had simply fallen from a display case. However, when the business owner checked the CCTV records, he reportedly found she had been pocketing jewellery behind his back since 2021. The stolen gold allegedly amounted to a whopping 20 million baht (around 450,000 GBP).

He said: 'She stole from me at least 47 times. I trusted her and I'm disappointed and furious that this is how she repays me.'

The owner claimed Somjit had already sold the stolen gold to buy big-ticket items - like a plot of land and a brand-new motorcycle - which she flaunted on her social media. He added that she could not have made such costly purchases in such a short time on her meagre salary.

The Court of First Instance has sentenced Somjit to 235 years in jail without parole. She was also ordered to pay 18 million baht (405,000 GBP) in damages. 

The shop owner said: 'I have been very lenient by giving her enough chances to return what she stole. In the end, she refused to return all of it. She only gave back 7 million baht. Now she must serve her sentence.'


(1 GBP = 44.44 THB)