Conwoman to pay back £100k
The mastermind behind a £1.5 million scam to plunder cash from a Walsall vending company was today ordered to pay back just £100,000.
Finance manager Carol Langham lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of Reedswood-based Coinadrink.
She left the firm, which employs 80 people, on the brink of bankruptcy.
But with most of the cash already frittered away, Wolverhampton Crown Court today heard how the 44-year-old's remaining assets only totalled £104,271.46.
A confiscation order was made today and that cash is to be paid back to the company based in Maple Leaf Industrial Estate, Bloxwich Lane.
The court heard how Carol had benefited from the lion's share of the spoils from the scam carried out with sister-in-law Denise Langham. Carol pocketed £774,493.11 over two years while Denise took a smaller share and will face a similar hearing tomorrow.
Carol, a mother-of-one, of Dunster, Tamworth, was jailed for four and a half years after admitting 24 fraud offences in February.
Denise, 53, of Beacon Road, Willenhall, was jailed for 18 months for theft of £73,000.
Judge Nicholas Webb said today Carol Langham has four months to pay the amount owed or will serve a further two years in prison.
Carol, in charge of the firm's cheque book, wrote out huge sums for herself between 2005 and 2007.
