Accountant spent stolen £300k on designer gear Firm realised cash was missing when reserves were drained
ACROOKED accountant fleeced her Birmingham boss out of more than £300,000 and splashed the cash on fur coats, belts and lots of handbags.
Julie Sexton-Blythe diverted cash from a savings account at Hockley firm Reliable Stamping between February 2015 and January this year. The alarm was only raised when bosses at the company suddenly realised their account had been drained of almost all reserves.
West Midlands Police investigated and when Sexton-Blythe, 51, was questioned, she claimed she had gone on the spree to cheer herself up after the death of a family member in a car crash. But that had been five years earlier.
Search warrants at her home in Severn Valley Caravan Park in Bridgnorth and a salon in Bridgnorth High Street – which she bought in the summer – uncovered a hoard of designer clothes, including fur coats, and accessories including handbags, purses and belts.
Sexton-Blythe joined the business in June 2014 but within six months had used her position to create two bogus payees, closely resembling the names of genuine suppliers, to funnel cash into her own NatWest Bank account.
The 51-year-old went on to admit theft by employee and at Birmingham Crown Court was jailed for 40 months.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Catherine Wall said: “She tried to cover her tracks by creating two payees with names very similar to established suppliers – and she managed to get away with her fraud for almost a year. In the end, she was caught out by her own greed because she continued diverting cash into her own accounts even at quiet trading times. When the hole in company finances got bigger, her scam was identified. The beauty salon was kitted out with high-end equipment, expensive furniture and leading beauty products. There is no way she could have afforded what we found on her accountant’s salary.
“In total, the payments she made to herself reached £315,000.
“In interview she claimed to be suffering emotional and psychological trauma from the car crash death of a family member in 2011 and that spending money on clothes and accessories made her feel better. But she said the ‘fix’ would not last long so she found herself doing it again and again.”
West Midlands Police has pledged to recover cash and assets from Sexton-Blythe under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
She claimed that spending money on clothes and accessories made her feel better, but said the fix would not last long DC Catherine Wall