£55k fraudster had a gastric band op and exotic holiday
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A WOMAN is facing jail for taking £55,000 from her company to fund an exotic holiday, treats for her pets and a gastric band operation.
Jean Wilson spent £10,000 on a five-star trip to Singapore, Bali and Thailand. During the jaunt she had her own butler and went on an elephant safari, a court heard.
The recruitment firm boss lavished thousands of pounds on luxury dog groomers, vet treatments and cleaning bills.
Wilson, 58, also splashed out £9,000 on a gastric band operation which helped her lose more than six stone in just five months.
Wilson, the managing director of a firm supplying special needs teachers, admitted fraud by abuse of position at Cardiff Crown Court this week.
Recorder Eleri Rees adjourned sentence so Wilson can be assessed by mental health specialists, but he warned her that jail was likely.
The court heard that by brazenly faking invoices, the fraudster had money paid directly to travel firms and a weight loss company.
Sam Shepherd, prosecuting, said: “This was an abuse of trust as managing director.
“The manipulation of invoices was sophisticated, involved planning and was conducted over a significant period of time.”
One invoice for £9,504 submitted by Wilson, from Port Talbot, was supposedly to pay a bill to the National College Of Teaching.
But the money had really gone to a company called Healthier Weight to pay for her gastric band.
The operation, in August 2015, was a success. In just five months, Wilson shed six stone. During her Far East trip in January 2015, she downed Singapore Sling cocktails at the famous Raffles Hotel and stayed in a luxury suite at Singapore’s five-star Fullerton Hotel. In Thailand she had accommodation that came with a butler.
Wilson even rented out her own home while she leased a mansion, the court heard.
Confronted with the evidence, she admitted her crimes.
They included “deliberately falsifying records including invoices, impersonating clients by email, and taking large sums of money”, Mr Shepherd said.
He said: “In most cases she presented invoices purporting to be for legitimate uses for the company’s spending money.
“But in actual fact the bank details were those of recipients for the defendant’s personal benefit.”
Defending, Robert Goodwin said the businesswoman was a manic depressive and her condition “makes her spend money on frivolous things”.
He said: “She can’t remember in detail what she was doing at the time because of her mental health. She accepts she took the money but struggles to identify when she did it or why.”