Worker steals more than £23,000 from her company

In just six months, Deborah Mann helped herself to more than 23,000 from Fine-Cast Foundry Ltd, formerly of Lancing Business Park, and now of Lineside Industrial Estate, Littlehampton. Chichester Crown Court heard that Mann, of Queen Street, Littlehampton, took advantage of the firm's internet accounts payment system to divert cash into bank accounts she set up with similar names to Fine-Cast's suppliers. Mann told police she took the money to clear mortgage arrears, but her dishonesty had a devastating effect on the foundry's owner, Chris Heatley, and on the business' finances and development plans, Robert Hall, prosecuting, told the court on Friday. "Mr Heatley himself has struggled to deal with the ramifications of this fraud. He has suffered from depression and stress, trying to get his life back on track," said Mr Hall, who added that the company's expansion plans had been put back by Mann's actions. Fine-Cast, he said, was also taking civil action against the defendant to recover outstanding money. Mann joined the company in April last year as office administrator. Her duties included keeping the accounts and paying wages and invoices and she was authorised to use the company's bank account, said Mr Hall. In October, the Inland Revenue approached Fine-Cast over anomalies in the company's pay-as-you-earn records and Mr Heatley called in accountants to try to resolve the problem. The accountants found discrepancies in the business' accounts and their report was left on the desk of the defendant, who was away on holiday. "She came back from holiday on October 26 to find that report. From that morning on, the defendant voluntarily left her employment at that establishment," Mr Hall told Judge J. Sessions. Further investigations revealed 10 irregularities in the accounts at the 15-employee firm, amounting to a total of 23,544. "The way in which these payments had been made was through internet-usage. A number of payments were made to company names that were similar to company names that Fine-Cast Foundry normally dealt with. It was clear that they were, in actual fact, cover-names for accounts held by this defendant. "So in effect, those payments were made into this defendant's bank account," said Mr Hall. Mann, aged 41, was arrested by police on November 9 and made a full admission. She said she had taken the money to pay off 8-10,000 of mortgage arrears. That left a shortfall of 13-15,000, but the defendant could not specify what had happened to that amount. She was charged and pleaded guilty at Worthing in December to 10 counts of obtaining money transfers by deception. Mr Hall said Mann had previous convictions for dishonesty, including one in 1997 for which she was given a suspended nine months' prison sentence, and another, two years later. They had not involved theft from employers. Irena Ray-Crosby, defending, said Mann was willing to repay the money to her former employer when the family's house was sold. There were "exceptional" circumstances in Mann's case which could justify a suspended sentence being imposed, rather than immediate imprisonment, said Ms Ray-Crosby. Mann's husband had suffered serious back injuries in a "catastrophic" accident when he was serving as a firefighter in 1989, leaving him with a degenerative spinal condition. At times, he was also unable to even wash or dress himself, and the defendant had to do that for him. If she could not do that because of a prison sentence, the couple's daughters, aged 11 and 13, would have to look after him instead. The older daughter, added Ms Ray-Crosby, was suffering from a campaign of bullying at school, including physical attacks and verbal abuse, and both girls needed their mother. But Judge Sessions said he would need more evidence of the husband's medical condition, and the older daughter's school problems, before he could rule out an immediate custodial sentence for Mann. He agreed to defer sentencing her until May 13 to give the defence the opportunity to obtain the "objective evidence". Commenting on the case, Mr Heatley said: "She came to us from an agency, but we treated her just like any other member of the team. She even came to my birthday party. She would have seen everyone working hard to keep the business going, but all the time she was taking the money. It was just absolutely evil, wicked."