Scot who stole $2m to fund slot machine spree is jailed
A SCOTS accountant who stole almost $2million from her employer to fund a gambling addiction is likely to be deported from Australia after serving a jail term.
Sandra Balfour, 67, who was a ‘trusted employee’ at a car dealership chain in Brisbane, stole the money by making many discreet transactions’ over eight years.
She blew around $1million of the total on slot machines after developing a gambling habit as ‘an escape’ after her husband fell seriously ill.
Now she has been jailed for eight years and is likely to be sent back to Scotland when she is released, even though she emigrated 40 years ago.
But she has remained a British citizen and has been living in Australia on
‘Gambling was an escape for her’
a visa which is expected to be cancelled as her term of imprisonment was for more than one year.
Balfour wiped away tears as she was sentenced at Brisbane District Court. Her husband died in 2021 and she was supported in court by her son.
The court heard that she has no job prospects or friends in Scotland and her only remaining family member, a younger brother, is unwell.
However, Judge Paul Smith told her: ‘Hardship issues have been pointed out.
‘Your connection to Scotland is almost non-existent... [but] this is a significant breach of trust.’
Balfour had been working as a bookkeeper at Brisbane Motor Auctions and Platinum Vehicle Sales since 1993 and was one of six employees with a log-in for its banking system. She became her family’s sole breadwinner in 2010 after her husband became ill.
Balfour used gaming machines as a coping mechanism but became addicted and stole from her employer by transferring money to her own account.
Payments required authorisation from two employees so Balfour used a colleague’s log-in to generate a remittance to her bank account then approved the transaction under her own name.
Payments ranged from as little as $100 to more than $10,000. The amount taken added up to $1,800,098, or just over £1million.
The fraud came to light after a customer complained that they had paid for an insurance product but not received it. An investigation showed the same amount of money had been transferred to Balfour’s account, and further inquiries revealed the full extent of the fraud.
She admitted one count of fraud totalling more than $100,000.
Defence lawyer Matthew Hynes said the money ‘went straight into pokies (gaming machines)’.
He said: ‘Gambling was an escape for her. This is not a case of someone living a greedy, lavish lifestyle. She is feeding her addiction – it was need, not greed.’
The court heard that Balfour was previously convicted of a similar crime when she ‘overpaid herself’ with $30,000 from another former employer. She received a three-year suspended sentence for fraudulent accounting.