A MOTHER-TO-BE who scammed a company out of nearly £70,000, has been jailed for nine months.
Cheryl Smith, 29, was sentenced at Guilford Crown Court on Thursday last week, after pleading guilty to theft. She'll give birth in prison if she serves the full term.
The court heard how she stole £69,057 from Redhill company Stocksigns – where she worked in the accounts department – over a period of around three years, from 2008 to 2011.
After taking the first payment of £9,700 in November 2008 to pay for a large tax bill, Smith continued to take money from the company to pay for "home improvements and general living".
In mitigation, Keith Goodhand, who revealed to the court that his client is expecting her first child in November, said: "We may take this as one of those cases where greed overcame her."
He added: "She doesn't shy away; she says some of the expenditure was on items she did not require."
Smith, of Charlesfield Road, Horley, had worked at Stocksigns since 2003, where she was making and receiving payments and dealing with the company's tax payments.
The payment system required two authorisation codes for any transfer of more than £500.
Smith, alongside Bernard Harrington, was one of the signatories, but the court heard how Mr Harrington, who has since left the company, "adopted a rather lax practice with his authorisation".
As a result Smith came to have both access codes, meaning she could authorise payments herself.
Simon Connolly, prosecuting, said: "She generated paperwork requesting authorisation for payments for false items and an invoice which she then authorised.
"It was quite a subtle fraud."
The issue went unnoticed until an external review in March 2012, which stumbled across the false payments, at which point Smith made a transfer back to the business of £5,800 to cover her tracks.
She was then interviewed by the company and made some admissions before resigning.
When asked about the thefts, Mr Connolly told the court: "She was vague and said she needed to check her bank accounts."
Sentencing Smith to nine months in prison, Judge Suzan Matthews QC said: "The first monies taken were with the explanation that there was a tax bill to be paid, it wasn't a matter of life and death, but convenience."
She added: "It simply is you are dishonest.
"It boils down to the fact that since working with [Stocksigns] since 2003, they had you in a position of trust.
"I think you have been thoroughly dishonest."
Stocksigns, on Ormside Way, Redhill, declined to comment.