Mothercare worker walks free from court over £6,000 gift card fraud
A university student who tried to defraud Mothercare out of more than £6,000 was spared a suspended jail sentence in the hope the conviction will not blight her future.
Heerah Shahid was working on the tills at the company's Merry Hill shopping centre branch when she turned to crime, a judge heard.
The 20-year-old, who had never been in trouble before, blamed the sudden change in character on unspecified 'pressure' from a mystery man, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
From January last year she credited gift cards with varying amounts of money, recording them as customer refunds, revealed Mr Phillip Beardwell, prosecuting. She used them to buy over £1,000 worth of goods from the firm's website using her own name to place the orders and having them delivered to her family's home in Gammage Street, Dudley.
The second year bio medical sciences student – the oldest of six children – deployed other types of dishonestly, such as putting money recorded as refunds directly into her own bank account, bringing the total loss to the company to more than £2,200, it was said. Then she tried to claim refunds on four child buggies – worth £1,000 each – in a single transaction during July which was cancelled and triggered an investigation by Mothercare's fraud detection team two weeks after she had put in her notice.
Mr Richard Franck, defending, said: "She felt under threat and pressure for reasons she struggles to explain herself. She thought she could sort it out for herself.
"This person was demanding more and more. She panicked and tried to re credit four pushchairs by putting them through on one card."
Mr Franck continued: "Her thinking skills deserted her and she went about things in completely the wrong way."
Shahid admitted two charges of fraud by abuse of position and was told by Recorder Martin Forde QC: "I do not doubt you had been placed under pressure by an unnamed male who took advantage of the position of trust you were in but you should have told the authorities.
"You have a potentially flourishing academic career ahead of you. I am confident you will not be before the courts again."
She received a 12 month community order with 100 hours unpaid work and was ordered to pay £2,281 compensation to Mothercare and £340 costs. The judge said he hoped this punishment would 'blight her future employment record less than a suspended sentence."
