Fraud Crime

A 34-year-old accounts assistant has been jailed after stealing £60,000 from her boss, who was suffering from cancer.

Mandy Mills, of Accrington, Lancashire, used UK Maintenance Services Limited's credit card to pay for luxury goods, Burnley Crown Court heard.

She started buying laminated flooring, a barbecue set, reclining chairs and hotel stays within weeks of being employed in April 2005.

All the while the firm's 63-year-old manager Kenneth Harrison was in hospital receiving treatment for his terminal condition.

Mills was arrested two years later following a probe and admitted transferring staff wages into her account, falsifying expense claims and misusing the company card.

Judge Beverley Lunt jailed her for 18 months, adding: "At least if you had used it (the money) to pay off your debts that may have been understandable, but there is no evidence you did this. You were continuing to fritter the sums away.

"You were not just driven by despair, you were driven by greed. This was such a gross breach of trust which only ended because you were caught red-handed."

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