Accountant with bingo gambling habit jailed for £1.4 million theft from Chesterfield bosses

Karen Brailsford, 53, pilfered the money over the course of nearly nine years - between March 2012 and February 2021 – while working for Urban Design and Development Limited (UDDL).

A court heard she spent £298,000 on a gambling website, £44,000 on caravan holiday homes and sent over £165,000 to family and friends.

Brailsford, who was employed from April 2011 stole £300,000 in 2017, £279,000 in 2020 and other amounts during some years of up to £179,000 and £140,000.

Evidence showed money was paid into some 11 Natwest bank accounts.

The court heard the defendant, who earned £21,000 a year, was given the responsibilities and trust of a finance manager.

Prosecutor Philip Plant described how the defendant would scan invoices she found lying around and change payment details to her own bank accounts.

However, as the fraud continued she “no longer bothered” with false invoices and simply created duplicate payments on the firm’s banking system.

Of the £1,419,363 stolen, she had returned just £71,309 to the firm – which supplies building products for homes such as doors and windows.

Telling how Brailsford’s fraud finally came to light, prosecutor Mr Plant said: “In February 2021 the defendant sent an email from her personal account to one of the company’s suppliers, requesting a return.

"She indicated a false payment had been made and requested the money be returned. When the defendant requested the return the bank details were her own.”

However a concerned employee at the supplier firm contacted UDDL and a review into the transaction began.

Mr Plant said: "The following morning the defendant was spoken to by directors – she claimed to be bewildered and to know nothing about it.”

However, following further questions Brailsford confessed, adding “she had been stealing from them for some time”.

Brailsford was summarily dismissed and escorted from the building.

During a police interview she told police she had a “gambling habit” and used the money to supplement it.

UDDL’s Patrick Dawson said in a statement read out to court that Brailsford, described as a “nice person” if a little “rough-cut” had been thought of as a “loyal employee”.

He said: “We questioned how it could have happened”.

Reading from the statement, Mr Plant, who had attended Brailsford’s wedding, said: “The defendant worked closely with people in accounts – they were upset and disbelieving."

Mr Dawson said fellow employees may have been denied bonuses due to the financial loss, while others feared the finger would be pointed at them.

Brailsford’s defending barrister Nicola Hornby, said her client – a mother – had shown clear evidence of remorse. She said Brailsford fell into the habit of gambling heavily at Bingo and on gambling machines, which was fuelled by depression.

Brailsford, of Whitehall Road, Wingfield, Rotherham, admitted fraud by abuse of position. She was jailed for four years and eight months.

Judge Tim Spruce said: "For approximately 10 years you acted effectively as finance manager – your salary was not one reflective of a finance director. But the reality is you had all key financial controls such as invoice payments and setting up new accounts. You were trusted with those responsibilities whether or not it was above your pay grade.

“Over a period of almost nine years you exploited that trust and exploited that responsibility to perpetrate a fraud in excess of £1.4 million. The methods employed by you were not unsophisticated and were designed to avoid detection.

"It suggests you gave thought and planning into how the fraud would go undetected. Employees were potentially deprived of bonuses or brought under suspicion by proximity to your dishonesty.”