Colleen Treloar, 55, appeared in Horsham Magistrates' Court on Tuesday on theft charges.

She pleaded not guilty.

The court heard that Treloar stole money on multiple occasions while working as the manager at Coles Liquorland in Horsham.

On December 12, 2016, Treloar made a false refund of $2340 to her person credit card. She refunded $440 to her credit card on December 13 and she refunded $548 on December 20.

Magistrate Ronald Saines said Treloar's offending was captured on CCTV.

He said there was a direct link between the footage and bank transactions in Treloar's account.

"The three transactions were all processed by the accused herself, using her own cards and while no other staff were present," he said.

Mr Saines said there were clear money-handling procedures in place at the store.

"Staff were not permitted to do their own sales or refunds," he said.

"When a refund was done, two receipts were automatically printed and one of those receipts was to be obtained by the staff and placed in the register drawer."

Mr Saines said there was no receipt left for any of the three refunds Treloar made.

The court heard that after the first offence, another staff member noticed the large refund Treloar had done, which was for $2340.

"He phone the accused to inquire about the large refund and she explained that a golf club or footy club had made a return," Mr Saines said.

He said the staff member then checked the stock levels, which were inconsistent with Treloar's explanation.

"There was nothing he could find to suggest it was a lawful transaction," he said.

Mr Saines said Treloar was about $30,000 in debt at the time of the offences, which was a motive for her to seek financial gain.

He said Treloar failed to show remorse for her offending.

"The seriousness of this offending is high and there is no doubt that the offences were pre-meditated, planned and executed carefully over time," he said.

"This is the most serious category of theft."

The court heard that Treloar had been charged with a similar offence in 2012, which was a theft from an employer.

Mr Saines sentenced her to four months' imprisonment on three charges of theft.

The court heard that Treloar was a former police officer, but stopped work in the 1990s after a car crash.

She started working in retail in 2006 and started working at Coles Liquorland in Horsham in 2013.

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox twice weekly from the Wimmera Mail-Times. To make sure you're up-to-date with all the news from across the Wimmera, sign up below.