Trina Lee Oliver was sentenced to a maximum of three years behind bars for eight counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and one charge of embezzling more than $15,000 as a clerk or servant.

Acting Judge Colin O’Connor convicted the 45-year-old on all counts and imposed a minimum of 18 months before she is eligible for release.

According to court documents, Oliver stole $915,213.88 from her former employer, Red River Rural, based at Nemingha, between February, 2014, and September, 2015.

Oliver was employed as a clerical assistant at the farming equipment business in December, 2012, and after a period of time was granted access to internet banking for bookkeeping purposes.

In facts tendered to the court, Oliver took over the bookkeeping role in February, 2014, at the business.

In December of that year, Oliver purchased her own real estate business but continued to carry out bookkeeping work for Red River Rural.

According to court documents, the owners laid off a number of staff, despite the business being busy, because the cash flow in the company “was getting very low”.

“[The owners] employed assistant bookkeepers to assist Oliver, however, they struggled to find someone who could identify why the business’ cash flow was so low,” court facts state.

When Oliver took an overseas holiday in April, 2015, a staff member was employed to carry out the bookkeeping duties and discovered in the company’s internet banking, “a number of payments had been entered onto [the system] and the internet banking system as a payment to the Australian Taxation Office was actually credited to a Commonwealth Bank account number”, facts said.

The bank account belonged to Oliver.

The company’s owners called in police after it became aware of the missing funds before Oxley detectives took charge of the investigation because of the amount of missing funds.

Following a review of business records, Oliver was charged by detectives in December, 2015.

Oliver pleaded guilty to the charges in Tamworth in May before the case was adjourned to the Downing Centre District Court, this week.

Oliver will be first eligible for parole in March, 2018.