Long standing employee jailed for stealing £520,000
Wednesday 18th November, 2020
A financial controller who admitted to stealing over half a million pounds from her employer has been sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment at Stafford Crown Court.
The court heard that she was in a position of trust and managed the company’s accounts. She abused this trust to take around £520,000 between October 2009 and June 2018.
The money was used to fund a lifestyle well in excess of her legitimate income, including new cars and a holiday home.
She stole the money by transferring money from the business into bank and credit card accounts. She then covered up these payments by way of false accounting.
The court was told that in 2015-16 the company was trading as SPA Automotive Ltd when it then went into liquidation - most likely as a result of the on-going fraud which had not been discovered at that stage, according to the investigation.
The fraud came to light towards the end of May 2018 shortly after she had resigned from the company.
Detective Constable Nicholas Gorman, of Staffordshire Police, said: “It was an appalling breach of trust and, although Caldicott has repaid part of the sum, we are glad she has been sentenced for her actions.”