Accountant’s theft left estate agent ‘heartbroken’
SHE SOLD BUSINESS AFTER TRUST WAS BETRAYED
AN estate agent has told how she was left ‘heartbroken’ when she discovered her accountant had stolen cash from her business.
Kendra Jacob was the owner of Pure Estate Agents, in Bridge Street, Worksop, a business she built from scratch.
But the dishonest actions of accountant Michael Twitty - who helped himself to £7,850 - left her with no other option but to sell the thriving business because she said: “I couldn’t trust anybody anymore.”
Kendra has told her story after Twitty, 46, of Rufford Street, Worksop, was sentenced for stealing the cash from the business.
He pleaded guilty to the theft of £7,850 belonging to Pure Estate Agents Limited.
After discovering what Twitty did, Kendra, who was born and bred in Worksop, said: “It absolutely broke my heart. I thought he was a friend as well. It affected not just me but my family.
“I was a very good employer as well. Any of them could have come to me and I would have helped them. It caused me to sell the business as well; I couldn’t trust anybody anymore.”
She said Twitty had a good job, was on £32,000 a year, and she used to pick him up and take him to work.
Kendra was a community support officer for five years with Nottinghamshire Police when the property market crashed in 2007.
But later she was headhunted back into the estate agency industry and then set up her own business, Pure Estate Agents, where she had eight members of staff, including Twitty.
The 49-year-old, who is now a valuer with Martin & Co, Worksop Letting & Estate Agents, said she trusted Twitty with everything and “when someone does that to you, it is devastating”.
He admitted he took some money after getting into a financial mess.
He was dismissed from the company.
On February 9, 2018, a colleague went to his address to deliver his letter of dismissal. Twitty invited him in and he admitted stealing cash over three to four months.
When the company was sold, a financial auditor assessed the business and found further financial irregularities. The defendant had stolen £7,850 between March 1, 2017, and February, 2018.
He admitted stealing money from the company but could not recall the exact amount.
His lawyer, Nicola Hornby said she had documents showing his current position regarding debt and she referred to it being around £13,000 as of late last year.
“He has now taken the steps he should have taken then and sought advice regarding that debt and set up a debt management programme,” she told the court.
Judge Nigel Godsmark QC gave Twitty a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 100 hours of unpaid work.