Woman jailed for theft and fraud totalling £451,000

11:11am Tuesday 9th March 2010

By Melanie Adams

When bosses at a Hampshire builders caught one of their employees stealing from them, they gave her a second chance and wiped the slate clean.

But Amanda Carrington repaid them by plundering tens of thousands of pounds more, threatening the company’s future.

She also starting ripping off the firm’s customers and lied to get a massive mortgage on her home.

Today she is starting a 21-month jail sentence after she admitted taking a total of £451,000 through theft and fraud between 2004 and 2009.

Instead of sacking Amanda Carrington for defrauding Dorelbury Ltd out of £30,000 by fiddling wages and payments, lenient bosses decided their friend and colleague deserved a second chance.

But despite their generosity, the 48-year-old continued to abuse her position to pocket another £60,000 from the Fareham-based building contractors.

In a statement read out to the court, managing director Rodney Fitzgerald described the “catastrophic” effect this had had on his business and that had it not been for the company’s success in the past, Dorelbury Ltd could have ceased to exist.

He added: “I still find it very difficult to understand how anyone given a second chance can sit no more than five metres away for so many years and appear to be such a committed and loyal employee, while sitting there, planning new ways to defraud the company and putting everyone’s jobs in jeopardy.”

Carrington also admitted overcharging one of the company’s customers, Hampshire Scientific Services, by inflating invoices and transferring the extra £26,000 into an account she had sole access to.

The court was also told how she lied to the Bristol and West building society about her salary to get a £337,000 mortgage for her home in Outlands Lane in Curdridge.

Prosecutor Anthony Johns said that Carrington was initially caught in 2005 while she was company secretary.

But after paying back the money company director Michael Dunn, decided to give her a second chance and demoted her to office manager.

But Carrington continued her systematic defrauding of the company The court heard that Carrington did not have a lavish lifestyle but the money was swallowed up by day to day living costs.

In mitigation, Daniel Reilly told the court how Carrington had suffered from depression and was currently receiving treatment for severe depressive disorder.

Carrington pleaded guilty to two counts of theft, three of obtaining money transfers by deception, two of fraud by abuse of position and one of fraud by false representation.

Judge Ian Pearson sentenced her to 21 months imprisonment for each of the eight counts, to run concurrently.

He said: “This was a sustained fraud, it was a gross breach of trust. This was systematic dishonesty which continues for a period of five years.”

Outside court, Mr Fitzgerald told the Daily Echo that he was “more than satisfied” with the sentence.