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A 54-year-old Corby woman has been jailed for two years and nine months after she admitted to stealing more than £100,000 from her employer.
Paula Burgess, previously of Shetland Way, Corby, stole the money whilst working as an office manager at a marketing and events firm in Brunel Road.
Her deception took place over the course of three years and during this time she used the company credit card fraudulently, making numerous purchases for herself including clothing, a subscription to Sky TV, and takeaway food. One transaction, a vet bill, totalled £1,500.
Overall, the total value of the fraud was more than £103,000.
As part of her role, Burgess was responsible for checking employees’ credit card expenditure.
Her crimes came to light when she resigned abruptly in January 2023, after a senior manager asked for her credit card statements.
Northamptonshire Police was called, and Burgess was subsequently charged with fraud by abuse of position and fraud by false representation.
In police interview, she initially claimed that other people must have been using her card, however ended up pleading guilty to both charges at Northampton Crown Court and was sentenced this month (August 12) to two years and nine months in prison.
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will take place in November.
Lead investigator - Detective Constable James Malt from the Force’s Economic Crime Unit said: “Paula Burgess has shown a level of dishonesty through her offending that not only shattered the trust placed in her by her former employers, but also carried the very real risk of putting the livelihoods of her honest, hardworking colleagues at risk, all for her own selfish reasons.
“The amount of money stolen was staggering and the fraudulent spending clearly showed that Burgess had no regard for the impact of her actions and was only interested in spending money that wasn’t hers.
“This is not the first crime of this nature she has committed and has clearly showed that she has not learned from her previous offending.
“The consequences of her actions have now caught up with her and I hope she uses her time in prison to reflect on her offending and think twice about doing anything like this in the future.”