Office Angels says it is reviewing parts of its screening processes after it placed a temp with a conviction for credit card fraud at the Bradford & Bingley.

Temp Joanne Pethig managed to arrange the issuing of a cheque for £185,410.04, which was paid into her boyfriend’s Halifax account and used to buy a house.

In a statement, Office Angels told Recruiter: “Our candidate registration process requests that details are provided of any unspent criminal convictions. Joanne Pethig completed our registration form and specifically indicated on the form that she had no unspent criminal convictions and signed a declaration to that effect.

However, in court Pethig claimed she had specified her conviction when she filled in a form for the agency and had spoken to someone about it. She had been “surprised”  to be given a temporary placement in a bank.

In passing sentence at Bradford Crown Court, Judge Geoffrey Kamil told Pethig she had been placed in a position of trust: “How on earth that could happen I don’t know. What matters is that the employers were not told of the previous conviction and a substantial amount of money was obtained.”

Pethig was jailed for 27 months and her boyfriend Neil Edgerton sent to a young offenders’ institution for 15 months.