Former checkout supervisor Moira Bowman pocketed the cash after carrying out bogus refunds at Booths in Carnforth over a five-year period.

Bowman, 58, then passed on more than £240,000 to her two sons Mark, 34, and Ian, 35, to help them pay off debts and set up an IT firm.

Preston Crown Court was told how Mrs Bowman, of Grosvenor Place in Carnforth, was authorised to carry out refunds of items without bar codes - a practice called open key refunds.

As well as genuine refunds, she would also invent items that had been returned, placing the receipts in a cabin known as the "sin bin" before putting the cash directly into her handbag.

Prosecutor Nick Kennedy told the hearing how auditors at Booths' head office became suspicious about the number of refunds being carried out, which led to an internal investigation.

He said: "That camera showed Moira Bowman carrying out her thieving. After the open key refund was executed on the store till the receipt was placed on the cabin and the money was taken from the safe and placed in her handbag."

The court heard how father of eight Ian, of Wentworth Crescent in Morecambe, received £162,000 which was used to start up Search First Direct after he lost his job. Much of the cash was used to pay staff wages and keep the firm afloat.

Mark, of Burdock Walk in Morecambe, received £84,000, which was used to pay his mortgage and other debts after he lost his job at Heysham Port.

Andrew Alty, representing Moira Bowman, said she "had not benefited to the full extent" from the thefts by giving most of the cash to her two sons.

Simon Mintz, representing Mark, said the cash he received had been used to pay off his "mounting debts".

He added: "He was financially unambitious and hopeless with money. He has nothing to show for his mother's generosity."

Farat Ashad, representing Ian, said his business would never have been financially viable without the help of his mother. She added: "He found himself in grave financial difficulty."

Mrs Bowman, who pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering, received a three-year jail sentence for theft, with two-and-a-half years concurrently for money laundering.

Mark, who was convicted of money laundering after a trial, was jailed for 15 months. Ian, who was also convicted by a jury, was sentenced to 21 months behind bars.

Jailing the three, Judge Stuart Baker said: "This was a substantial amount of money stolen by Moira Bowman while occupying a position of trust within the company."

The trio will return to court later his year for a forfeiture hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Booths declined to comment.

>> Vote in our latest web poll