THE grandmother who stole almost £2m from the bank where she worked has denied that she and her husband lived in the lap of luxury.

Beryl Rowlands told Swindon Crown Court that she and her husband Paul got through almost £1.75m over a 10-year period on top of her wages, which ranged from £26,000 to £55,000 a year.

But when Michael Hopmeier, prosecuting, put it to her under cross-examination that there was 'nothing luxurious' she replied 'generally, that would be the case'.

During that time the couple spent £45,000 on a Mercedes Benz, bought a Harley Davidson and a Honda superbike, went on holidays in Britain and abroad and spent tens of thousands on photographic equipment. At different points they also owned a BMW, a £27,000 Range Rover bought for cash, and flew club class to world-wide destinations.

The 58-year-old was speaking as she gave evidence for her husband who faces charges of handling stolen goods and dishonestly retaining wrongful credits.

Rowlands said when she was arrested there was just £6,500 in cash left from the money she stole from the Dunbar Bank in London's Sackville Street.

Over the 10 years she stole from her employers, around £1.5m of the money was taken in bank notes and brought home on the train.

Mr Hopmeier suggested Mrs Rowlands, who was head of the private banking division when she was arrested, continued to steal to bankroll the couple's expensive lifestyle. But she denied that, insisting she only took the money so she could buy affection with gifts and promote the facade of being a successful woman.

She said she was not as careful as she could have been while stealing from the bank.

"I was not able to hide it. It was moved from one place to another, I wasn't careful. There were many people who received the reports daily or monthly who could have seen what I was doing," she said.

However, she insisted that her husband knew nothing about her finances or the crime until after she was confronted by auditors at the bank.

She said "If he had known he would not allowed me to have gone on.

"The only way he could have known was for me to tell him and I did not. I swear in front of God I didn't."

"Paul is a good man and he has done nothing wrong and I swear to God that that is the truth."

But when it was put to her that there may be a real off-shore account with cash waiting to be collected she insisted that wasn't so.

She said "You can follow me till the day I die, there is no money anywhere."

Mr Rowlands, of Willow Cottage, Blunsdon Hill, denies three counts of handling and six of dishonestly retaining wrongful credits.

The case continues.

Mr Hopmeier put it to her that she was only discovered after a colleague alerted the bank rather than her coming clean and confessing all to stop it.

"I thought about it many times but I didn't have the courage," she said.

"Being found out has been the best thing that happened to me. I am no longer living with the fear of being found out and the feelings of guilt about what I was doing to everybody."

She said that while she was stealing she was living 'in total fear, full of anxiety'. She said "What happened was because of my feelings of people's perceptions of me. Paul didn't need any of this."

When it was put to her that some of her documents had been found in the drawer of her husband's desk and in his bedroom she said they must have got there after she came clean.

She said "There were three or four weeks between discovery and the police arrival. A lot of things were moved about then as I tried to explain to Paul what I had done. There was a lot of time between being found out and the police search."

She maintained that he had no idea what she earned and she told him that bundles of cash used to buy things came from an off shore account.

But when it was put to her that there may be a real off-shore account with cash waiting to be collected she insisted that wasn't so.

She said "You can follow me till the day I die, there is no money anywhere."

Mr Rowlands, of Willow Cottage, Blunsdon Hill, denies three counts of handling and six of dishonestly retaining wrongful credits. The case continues.