Gastric-band fraudster has jail term suspended
AMANAGING director who stole £50,000 from the company she worked for to pay for a gastric band operation and a luxury £10,000 holiday has avoided jail.
Jean Wilson carried out a “sophisticated scam” by falsifying invoices to include her own bank details or those of services she had used for her personal use.
The 58-year-old, who lived in a rented mansion, held the position of managing director at Axcis Education Recruitment, in Newport, for five years before her criminal scheme was discovered.
Between December 2013 and July 2016, Wilson spent in the region of £55,000 on a gastric band operation, a lavish holiday to Thailand, Bali and Singapore, vets’ bills and dog-grooming appointments.
The defendant appeared at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday for sentencing after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position at a previous hearing.
At the previous hearing, prosecutor Sam Shepard said: “The defendant has pleaded guilty to deliberately falsifying records including invoices, impersonating clients by email, and of taking large sums of money.
“The defendant presented in most cases invoices purporting to be invoices for legitimate uses for the company’s spending money but in actual fact the bank details were those of recipients for the defendant’s personal benefit.”
One invoice was purported to be for a special needs education magazine but was a bill for £420 for a domestic upholstery cleaning company used by a friend of Wilson’s.
The former teacher also submitted an invoice for £9,504, purporting to be for a company involved with the National College of Teaching, but was in fact for a company called Healthier Weight and was a bill for the defendant’s gastric band operation.
Anther invoice submitted by Wilson, again purporting to be for the National College of Teaching, was a £9,380 bill for a company called Audley Travel for the defendant’s luxury holiday to Thailand, Bali, and Singapore.
Further invoices for the company included bills for a veterinary hospital, a dog groomer, a dogsitter, and a raffle prize at a dog show.
Wilson also engaged with contracts and suppliers for the company and inflated sums to be higher than their actual costs, which meant she had an “additional bonus” at the end of the year.
In mitigation, the court heard that Wilson had suffered with mental health issues, having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression. There was also evidence of suicidal tendencies and selfharm in her history.
Also speaking at the previous hearing, Robert Goodwin said his client accepted she had abused her position and agreed there was a level of sophistication to the deception, but added it was “inevitable” she would get caught.
He said: “She can’t remember in detail what she was doing at the time because of her mental health.
“She accepts she took the money but she struggles to identify when she did it or why she did it.”
He added: “She says her mental health problems and manic depression makes her spend money on frivolous things.
“Her property in Porthcawl was rented out for free while she rented a mansion in Cowbridge.
“She said she now has no further assets, which has led to a deterioration of her mental health.”
Sentencing, the Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Eleri Rees, said: “There is no doubt this was a most profound and serious breach of trust and the amounts involved after trial would have led to a sentence of three years’ imprisonment.
“A custodial sentence is richly deserved but you do in fact suffer from a bipolar condition, depression and there is evidence of suicidal tendencies and self-harm.
“Your offending richly deserves punishments but I can’t ignore the fact there are several mental health problems.
“The public interest is better served by suspending the sentences for you to receive treatment.”
Wilson, of Cwmavon Road, Port Talbot, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months.
She was made subject to an electronically monitored curfew for 32 weeks, a mental health requirement for 12 months and a rehabilitation requirement for 10 days.
Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) proceedings will also take place in the new year to decide how much money Wilson will be ordered to pay back.