Wages-con PCSO loses job
‘EMBARRASSED’ OFFICER FAILED TO OWN UP WHEN SHE WAS PAID TWICE
A PCSO lost her job after she falsely claimed that she had not been paid her wages – and even lied about the money being transferred to Jamaica.
Ellisha Wilson, from Ashton-inMakerfield, Wigan, duped Merseyside Police into paying her £1,600 monthly wage twice, a court heard.
The 26-year-old received an emergency payment from the force as well as her usual wage, but did not come clean despite being given several chances by senior colleagues.
She found herself in a ‘difficult situation’ after falling into debt through her previous job as an air stewardess, the court was told. Wilson finally admitted her ‘idiotic’ deception when officers produced proof from her bank.
At Sefton magistrates court, Wilson admitted fraud by false representation. The court heard the missing money has since been accounted for.
Prosecutor Amie Gouldson said: “There were numerous attempts to continue with the deception. She handed in wrong documents and claimed that the money that had been paid had been taken from her account and transferred to Jamaica.
“The production order from her bank account was then produced in order to prove that she was lying. It was at that point she admitted she had received the wages.”
Vicky Balenski, defending, said Wilson – who had no previous convictions – had genuinely believed she had not been paid.
She said that once she realised she had been, she continued with the deception out of embarrassment.
“She had got into debt after the airlines she was working for previously went bust during the pandemic,” Ms Balenski said. “When she was working as an air hostess, she had a credit card on which she would put all of her expenses.
“When she got paid, she paid the expenses off. Things spiralled when the two companies she worked for went into liquidation. She was unable to pay for her credit card. She then became a PCSO.
“She got paid but when she looked in her bank there was nothing left. She genuinely believed that she had not been paid and she made the report.
“But then she just felt embarrassed that she had said she had not been paid and felt she was in too deep to basically turn back.”
Ms Balenski said that when it became apparent Wilson had been paid, her wages were stopped. “In fact she wasn’t asked to pay any money back and that was the end of her career as a PCSO,” she said. “Since that time she has set up her own business and is looking at becoming a bus driver. This conviction may have an impact on that.
“She has been supported by her family but it did put a burden on the relationships in her family. This is out of character for Ms Wilson and something that the family have never had to deal with before.”
Sentencing Wilson, District Judge Wendy Lloyd told her: “You are an intelligent woman – I know that you are an intelligent woman because I have read the probation report. You knew that your wages would not have put you back in the black, you would still be in the red. You play acted.
“Nobody wanted this to come to a criminal matter but you just persisted ‘I have not been paid,’ even when you knew you had been paid – which I think you realised at the earliest stage.”
Wilson was sentenced to a 16-week curfew from 7pm to 7am. She will also have to complete 20 rehabilitation days and was ordered to pay £180 in costs and a victim surcharge.