A Church worker who stole almost £100,000 from the Diocese of Westminster after is facing jail after pleading guilty to nine counts of theft.

Francisca Yawson, 37, made a series of bank transfers to herself when she was a gift aid and operations technician for the central London division of the Roman Catholic Church and made efforts to hide the thefts by “cycling” money through different accounts that she controlled.

She spent most of the stolen cash on herself and her family, with investigators uncovering purchases on beauty products, John Lewis items, and at JD Sports.

The mother-of-three, who is two weeks away from giving birth to her fourth child, turned up to court on Tuesday without a plan for the care of her family, and having told no one about her convictions.

Judge Mark Weekes refused to pass sentence, adjourning the case until February next year despite heavily pregnant Yawson, due to give birth on October 29 requesting through her lawyer to be sentenced to “know her fate”.

The thefts happened between September 2018 and August 2019, starting with a payment to herself of £247 before escalating to siphoning off nearly £20,000 in one go.

Prosecutor George Crivelli told the court Yawson has a 2010 conviction for a cheque fraud, when she stole more than £16,000 from her partner’s mother.

Turning to the new offences, he said the Church “did not realise the money was missing for around a year”. The case was again delayed for around four years when the Metropolitan Police mistakenly closed the investigation.

Yawson was arrested, interviewed, and charged earlier this year, she says £8,500 of the stolen money was transferred to Jamaica to help pay for medical bills for her grandmother.

Yawson, of Stonebridge Park in Brent, northwest London, was set free on bail until her sentencing hearing.