Neighbours of clerical assistant Tracey Arnold have spoken of their shock after discovering she had fiddled £21,500 from the youth centre where she worked in Corsham.

The 43-year-old was jailed on Friday for eight weeks after pleading guilty to 28 counts of fraud over a 16-month period.

Arnold, a mother-of-two, had worked at the Mansion House Youth and Community Centre in Pickwick Road since 2005 and she forged a colleague’s signature to get away with the cash.

Her husband, Paul, who has been left to look after their two daughters, aged 16 and 11, declined to comment on the sentence.

The couple had only recently moved from their home of eight years at Pockeridge Drive, in Potley, to Cowslip Bank, in Katherine Park, after rumours had circulated the estate about Arnold’s activities.

Nicola Sanderson, 18, who used to do ironing for the couple, said: “When it all came out we realised how she could afford all the holidays they were going on. They went to Barcelona for three weeks last year and we often saw her in new outfits. I spoke to the husband last week and he said things were a bit pear-shaped at the moment.”

Miss Sanderson’s mother Caroline added: “I thought she was a close friend but she never told me about anything like this. I am gobsmacked.

“Why would you do something like that? There are other ways of getting yourself out of trouble but not taking money from young people.”

Fellow neighbour Sammy-Jo Stonham, who has lived on Pockeridge Road for 15 years, said: “You just don’t do something like she did. I can’t believe that she has only got eight weeks for it. She needs to be in there for longer. People are not going to be impressed by this sentence.

“I have seen a lot of things in my life but nothing like stealing money from young people.”

Neston ward town councillor Peter Anstey said: “It is a great shame that the young people of Corsham will be worse off because of Tracey Arnold’s fraud.”

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Council, which runs Mansion House community centre, said: “Mrs Arnold betrayed the trust of the young people who use the centre, her colleagues and the local community by stealing public money.

“Youth workers at the centre have worked very hard to manage the financial impact on the service for young people so that they have not been affected by her actions.

“Before she started working for the council in 2005, all the necessary personal background checks were carried out and nothing was found which would prevent us employing her.”

The council has reclaimed £16,000 of the money stolen, from insurance.