A single mother who spent £20,000 on her company credit card to support her four-year-old daughter has been spared jail.

Accounts administrator Chanelle Dacas, 30, from Streatham in south London, was handed a Barclaycard by statistics company Football Radar between May and September last year.

The mother used it to withdraw cash to buy furniture from Argos for a house given to her by the authorities after she had been evicted.

Dacas, who earned £14,000 a year, could keep up with her repayments to loan companies, for council tax and rent arrears but stole the money to survive.

The law student admitted one count of theft by employee and was handed an eight-month suspended sentence for a year at Isleworth Crown Court.

Dacas, who has not been able to find another job and is the sole carer for her daughter, was ordered to pay £5,000 compensation to a company, which has an £8million turnover.

The judge, Recorder Lindsey Rose said: 'This was not for luxury or frivolous items but items you thought were necessary for you and your child for living.'

Dacas, who had taken accountancy exams to get the job, still has a £10,000 debt to pay-day-loan companies and the council she is repaying every month.

Prosecutor Martin Whitehouse said: 'This case is a combination of opportunity, naivety and not remotely thinking through the consequences of your actions.

'She was in a position of acute financial difficulty and for what ever reason fell pray to temptation and falling pray to temptation continued.'

Mr Whitehouse said the bank statement showed Dacas had started by spending £1 a Tesco and then moved on to withdraw £450 and £400 a time.

In five days between June 3 and 8 she took money from cash machines including a NatWest in Shepherd's Bush in a 'constant withdrawal of cash'.

Then on June 11 she bought beds and other furniture from Argos.

Mr Whitehouse said: 'It was used to buy items for the new home for her and her daughter.

She was desperate.'

But he added that there are 'other ways' to get out of a desperate financial situation 'other than stealing'.

Mr Whitehouse said she acted 'naively and foolishly' and that it was a 'relief' when she was caught.

The total amount was £19,175.22 over the four months, as she had given up her last £900 wage payment to Football Radar.

The money was not noticed as missing and only found out after Dacas left her job and her replacement saw the spending.

James Palfrey, baú das dicas defending, said Dacas had to give up a place at Plymouth University to study law after she was arrested.

She was in 'crippling debt' before she took the job and was homeless and was given a card that was 'superfluous' to her job and found herself 'succumbing to temptation'.

He said Dacas had offered to pay £250 a month back but 'that was not good enough for them' and they wanted 'immediate payment'.

Mr Palfrey said that it would take Dacas '20 years at least' to pay it back in her current financial situation as she only receives £100 a week for her and her child.

'This was not someone living the high life,' he said.

'It was someone living the low life, not a low life but living a meagre existence.'

He said Dacas suffered from chronic asthma attacks brought on by 'depression and anxiety' before the theft.

He said when she was given the card it was 'the perfect storm or circumstances for her to succumb to temptation' and urged the judge to think of the child.

'Would the court in these circumstances render that child to be put into care,' he asked.

Judge Rose told Dacas it was a 'breach of trust and of position' though said it was 'not sophisticated' and she had 'not thought through her actions'.

'It was a low point in your life,' she said.

'You had considerable debt to pay and you were evicted from your home.

'You bought beds to sleep in and food and clothes for you and your daughter who is four years old.

'This was not for luxury or frivolous items but for items you thought were necessary for you and your child for living.

'You are ashamed of what you have done.'

Judge Rose said it was a credit to Dacas that she had strived for a 'better job and a better future' but said offences of this nature 'were serious'.

'The least sentence I can impose, having regard to all of the factors, is one of eight months imprisonment but I am going to suspend that sentence for a period of 12 months,' she said.

'There will be a 20 day rehabilitation requirement and 120 days unpaid work requirement to be completed in 12 months.'

'I am going to award £5,000 compensation.