Addict who stole £7,000 from bosses spared jail ... because she had a baby
AN OFFICE manager who stole thousands of pounds to fund her drug habit walked free from court after she used the birth of her baby to make a tearful plea for mercy.
Heather McCarthy, 33, plundered £7,700 in a timesheet scam at her recruitment company so she could buy cocaine.
When senior colleagues became suspicious, she quit before the thefts were discovered and later gave birth to her first child as police were about to charge her.
McCarthy, who works as a manager for a telecoms firm, sobbed in the dock as Judge Paul Lawton said: ‘I am not going to have you separated from the child.’ She was given an eightmonth prison sentence suspended for two years after admitting fraud by deception.
Inquiries later revealed that McCarthy, of West Derby, Liverpool, had previously served a prison sentence after she was caught stealing money from two former employers.
But her bosses at Paragon Meed in Bury, Greater Manchester, were unaware of her criminal past.
She also missed numerous court hearings citing ‘anxiety’ and Covid19. She only revealed the existence of her child – now aged ten months old – to her lawyers on the day of her sentencing at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
Sentencing at a hearing on Friday, Judge Lawton said: ‘You have made endless excuses to avoid any way of appearing at court.
‘You cannot steal from your employer and ignore the consequences, especially if you have been to prison for exactly the same sort of offence.’ The court heard that the thefts occurred between June 2018 and June last year after McCarthy began working as a recruitment consultant.
She missed meetings with bosses about why her work standards had dropped off and resigned last July, citing problems with drugs and debt.
Prosecutor Craig MacGregor said: ‘An audit was then carried out after she left and it was found that two former employees were having timesheets submitted and monies were being paid into Miss McCarthy’s accounts.’ The court heard 20 fraudulent transactions were carried out. McCarthy confessed to stealing when interviewed by police in February.
Mr MacGregor added: ‘It appears she never told the company about her previous conviction and has not told her new employers about her convictions either. She is a persistent fraudster.’
McCarthy was previously convicted of stealing from an employer in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, in 2011 and was given a suspended sentence. She was jailed for 12 weeks in 2017 after plundering £4,800 from Belvoir Sales and Lettings agency in West Derby, where she worked as an estate agent.
Defence barrister Thomas McKail said: ‘She is very concerned about the welfare of her young child. She asks for mercy today.’
Describing the context of her latest offending he added: ‘She was in a rather desperate position in her life and was addicted to cocaine due to having been in an abusive relationship many years ago.’