Willenhall clerk jailed for stealing £136,500

Gemma Freeman, who was responsible for paying employees of Walsall-based Careerlink Ltd, siphoned off thousands of pounds, it was told.

The 28-year-old was said to have used her position to transfer money into her own accounts each month.

She has now been jailed for two years after admitting making 46 fraudulent transactions over the course of just 10 months.

Mr Nicholas Burn, prosecuting at Wolverhampton Crown Court, said in total, mother-of-one Freeman swindled £136,470 from the company, where she worked for almost seven years.

He told yesterday's hearing: "The missing money had been diverted to two accounts, one of which was the defendant's and the other was one that she had control of, but had been set up to give the impression that it was related to the company."

The court heard Freeman, of Shepherd Road, Willenhall, was arrested and interviewed by police, and told officers she was not the only person to have access to the computer system that the payments were made from.

But Mr Burn said she changed her story and admitted the offence when police confronted her about a password system that was in operation.

The court was told that Freeman, who had no previous convictions, admitted fraud by abuse of a position of trust. The transactions took place between April last year and December.

Miss Kate Thomas, defending, said: "She was not taking the money to pay off debt. It was quite simply frittered away on quick fixes. She bought things like going out for meals, the theatre and clothes, things that made her feel better," added Miss Thomas.

Jailing Freeman, Judge Amjad Nawaz described the offending as a 'sophisticated, pre-meditated fraud done for financial gain'. After yesterday's hearing, Sarah Benyon, managing director at Careerlink, said: "Gemma worked for us for seven years and was a trusted member of staff, so it was disappointing when it happened. However for us, today is our 10th anniversary. We just want to move forward now."