A BOOKKEEPER who fiddled nearly £100,000 from two businesses including a Staines company has walked free from court.
Amanda Winters, 45, stole nearly £80,000 from Aquaneeds, a company which makes bathrooms for elderly and disabled people.
Her four year reign of fraud and theft contributed to one business going into liquidation, while another employer was forced to sell his home, his car and lay off staff to keep his business afloat after cash vanished.
Winters, of, Southwood Road, Farnborough, pleaded guilty on January 25 to two counts of theft and fraud and another charge of breach of a position of trust.
The divorced mother-of-two returned to Guildford Crown Court on Thursday (January 31) where she received a 14 month suspended jail sentence.
The court heard how Winters swiped £77,986 from Aquaneeds, in Kingsbury Crescent, Staines, over a three year period whilst self employed as the firm's bookkeeper.
Martin Hooper, prosecuting, told the court how Aquaneeds boss Richard Caddle's suspicions were raised when the company credit card was used to make online purchases.
Mr Caddle also noticed various payments were being made from the company purportedly to various suppliers and contractors.
Mr Hooper said the fraud caused Mr Caddle to suffer stress as he struggled to keep his business afloat amid initially unaccountable cash-flow problems.
He said: "He had to lay off staff and ended up taking out an overdraft of £50,000, he also borrowed money from his parents and family.
"He sold his car, his home simply to keep the business going. He said that he felt guilty. He had not taken a proper holiday for three years because he felt guilty for doing that when he owed people money."
The court heard Winters also stole cheques whilst working for Windsorian Accident Repair centre between January and December 2009.
She cashed 10 company cheques in her favour and made bank transfers to her own bank account totalling £20,487.
The company was forced into liquidation in July 2012, with company director Trevor Kirby blaming Winters' theft as a contributing factor to the collapse of his business.
Rachel Spealing, defending, said Winters was genuinely remorseful and "full of self loathing" over what she had done.
She said the process by which she took the money was unsophisticated and hardly made any attempt to hide what was going on.
Winters had become addicted to her offending and was unaware of the vast amount of money she had taken, she said.
The court heard Winters experienced financial problems when her marriage broke up but wanted to maintain the same standard of living she had come to enjoy. She wanted to offer her children luxuries she had been denied in her own childhood.
She needed the money to help fund a university education and travel experiences for her children, the court heard.
Winters, who remains employed as a bookkeeper, has said she is in the process of selling her home to repay the stolen money.
Judge Suzan Matthews told Winters: "That company going under in this day and age changed other people's lives. There is absolutely no doubt that your dishonesty and your theft has contributed to that. It was not a victimless crime in any sense of the word."
But in sentencing, Judge Matthews took into account Winters' emotional problems and the remorse shown for her crimes.
She was handed a 14-month jail sentence, suspended for two years. She was ordered to carry out 240 hours unpaid work and was placed on a 12 month supervision order.
