Clerk stole £140k from Omega Group Stonehouse for Disneyland

Jane Parkinson-Wadsworth, 58, of Hillview Road, Hucclecote, defrauded Omega Resource Group of the six-figure sum in just 17 days while employed as their ledger clerk, the court was told.

The court heard that she began the fraudulent activity the day after employees were told that Omega, an employment agency in Stonehouse, was being sold to another company and that staff had a choice of relocating to Nottingham or being made redundant.

“It may have been the prompt, but her actions could hardly be called sophisticated and in the chaos of the move she may have thought she could get away with it. The reality is that it was always going to be detected sooner or later,” said Sarah Jenkins, defending.

She said that Parkinson-Wadsworth tried to cancel the trip to Disneyland and did not go, and argued that the defendant had been in a “financial mess” for a number of years.

In a police interview in 2020, Parkinson-Wadsworth admitted stealing the money and explained that she had used it to pay off rent arrears and bank loans along with credit card debts.

But Ellen McAnaw, prosecuting, said: “She claimed she wasn’t using the money to fund a lavish lifestyle and had only done it to pay off debts. This goes against what she did spend the money on. The money wasn’t simply used to pay off her debts. She spent a lot on herself.”

The prosecution told the court that Parkinson-Wadsworth purchased a car for £8,845, paid £4,500 for a holiday at Disneyland Paris, withdrew £3,000 spending money, purchased £5,000 worth of furniture items, and made payments of £552 to a tropical fish store along with clothing and beauty products.

Jane Parkinson-Wadsworth exits Gloucester Crown Court

In total, Parkinson-Wadsworth stole £142,332 between October 2 and 19, 2018, but the bank recovered around £40,000 from her account.

She admitted fraud by abuse of position and concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property as well as five charges of falsifying accounts.

Taking the money

Prosecutor Ellen McAnaw said the fraud began five months after Parkinson-Wadsworth started working for Omega, setting up client accounts, inputting bank details and producing invoices.

She began making fraudulent transactions to her own bank account and another account from Omega’s account the day after staff were told their jobs would be relocated to Nottingham.

On October 2, 2018 Parkinson-Wadsworth produced two invoices for £430 and £1,350 which were signed off and paid into her bank account, the prosecution told the court.

Ms McAnaw told the court that Parkinson-Wadsworth produced another invoice on October 3 for £14,058, and transferred £24,030 on October 5. On October 9 she changed the banking details of an established company to that of her own and obtained £30,420.

“Once the money was in her account she changed the banking details back - however she left her own email address on the documentation,” said Ms McAnaw.

She said that on October 19, three further payments of £21,000, £35,732 and £15,320 were made by changing the employment agency’s software.

The estate in Stonehouse where Omega was based

Investigation

The court heard that before the fraud had been detected, Parkinson-Wadsworth was made redundant following a performance review.

Another employee raised concerns in November, 2018, about the state of the company’s invoices and an internal investigation was launched.

External investigators were called in to trace where the missing funds had gone who established that the funds were paid into Parkinson-Wadsworth’s own bank and another account, the court heard.

Police interviewed Parkinson-Wadsworth after the investigation was completed in May 2020.

Defending, Sarah Jenkins said: “In reality there was very little prospect of continued long-term success as Parkinson-Wadsworth paid the money directly into one of two bank accounts she has control over. It would have been very easy for investigators to establish where the missing funds had gone."

“Parkinson-Wadsworth felt she was let down as she thought this was the job that would enable her to turn her life around. She did not want to move and chose to do what she did.”

She added that £8,000 for a car was not lavish or extravagant spending.

"Parkinson-Wadsworth is remorseful and these offences are now of some age. She is currently working in a job with no monetary responsibilities.”

Judgment

The Judge, Recorder Robin Sellers, said: “It seems the news that the company was to relocate to Nottingham was the catalyst for her offending."

Talking to Parkinson-Wadsworth, he said: “It wasn’t long after you started your employment that you began your fraudulent offending over 17 days in which you obtained over £144,000 in ever increasing amounts.

“As a ledger clerk, this was an abuse of position. The bank returned around £40,000 from your account leaving a deficit of around £105,000.

“Only a custodial sentence can be justified but because of your situation, circumstances and the likelihood of you not reoffending I am prepared to suspend the sentence.”

The judge sentenced Parkinson-Wadsworth to a prison term of two years, suspended for two years and ordered her to attend 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay a victim surcharge.