A baker shop worker pretended she was dying from cancer to con £2,400 from her generous workmates and bosses.

Karen Marriott, 34, told colleagues she had terminal leukaemia, and then took advantage of their generosity by taking £900 which they raised for her by holding a collection.

Marriott, of Barham Terrace, Ravenscliffe, Bradford, milked the lie further to obtain £506 from the firm's charity committee.

Her employers then helped her further by writing off a £259 loan and paying her £677 in discretionary sick pay.

Yesterday Marriott pleaded guilty to four offences of dishonesty at Leeds Crown Court.

She admitted obtaining £907 by deception from colleagues at Greggs bakery by falsely representing that she was suffering from terminal leukaemia.

She also admitted obtaining £506 from the charity committee, dishonestly inducing Greggs to waive a debt and obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception by accepting the extra sick pay.

All the offences took place between January 1, and January 26 2001.

Sarah Barlow, for Marriott, asked Judge Alistair McCallum to adjourn the case for reports.

"She will be able to repay the money and intends to do so," Miss Barlow said.

Marriott, who began working for Greggs in 1996, told the lie about being terminally ill in 2000.

Judge McCallum told Marriott she had been very well advised to plead guilty.

She said: "There was really no conceivable defence here. If you had let it drag on you would have continued to worry about it but at least part of your ordeal is now out of the way."

Miss Barlow said that Marriott was poorly and would have found it difficult to sit through a lengthy court hearing.

The case was listed for a trial lasting less than two days but Marriott changed her plea to guilty before it could get under way.

"While you might be in pain, the sooner you put the matter behind you, the sooner you may begin to feel better," the judge added.

He adjourned the case until February 17 when Marriott will be sentenced. The judge ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report and medical and psychiatric reports.

The court heard that Marriott is due to go into hospital in January for an operation.

After the hearing, Marriott's solicitor, Chris Finnegan, said she was determined to pay all the money back by having it deducted from her incapacity benefits on a weekly basis.

He said Marriott, who worked at a shop in Bradford, was remorseful. The case had caused her a lot of stress and she had been ill after a major operation.

Mr Finnegan added: "She wants to pay the money back and get on with her life."

He said that one of the four charges, relating to sick pay, had been left on file by the court.

No-one at Gregg's was available for comment.