Man City executive stole £100k to pay for wedding
A JUDGE told a former Manchester City executive she had “relegated” herself from society as he jailed her for stealing £104,000 from the football club to fund her wedding.
Fiona Barclay, 33, earned up to £30,000 a year as a business development manager for the Premier League champions in the hospitality department.
But she swindled cash from June 2019 for almost three years – with City still £89,000 out of pocket.
Prosecutor Ellen Shaw explained Barclay was rumbled in March 2021 after accountants flagged a suspicious transaction when a refund of £25,000 had been issued.
She claimed it was an “error” and confessed to depositing £15,000 of the sum into her own bank account, paying it back to the club. But further investigations revealed the extent of her fraud, Manchester Crown Court heard.
She was sacked in March last year and told police she used the cash to pay for “various parts of her wedding” plus buying “gifts for her husband and family”.
Barclay, of Falkirk in Scotland, admitted fraud by abuse of position and was jailed for 18 months.
Judge Recorder Ciaran Rankin told her: “You have thrown so much away because of your dishonesty and, I’m afraid, pure greed.”
The judge said relegation was not a word associated with Premier League champions City but he added: “I’m afraid you have relegated yourself because of your greed and deception into the ranks of those who can no longer call themselves a person of good character.”
Patrick Buckley, defending, said Barclay, who is pregnant, is “utterly disgusted with herself”.
He added: “It seems that being hundreds and hundreds of miles away from home, isolated and lonely, solace was sought in retail therapy.
“The problem was the retail therapy was at the expense of her employer.”
It was claimed Barclay, who now works for a travel firm, has tried to contact City to arrange repayment of the stolen money but has not heard back.
An investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act will establish if any of the remaining cash can be recovered.