Employee stole to gamble, court is told

Employee stole £117k to gamble, court is told

AN employee stole £117,000 from a firm to pay for her gambling addiction, which was said to have been triggered by the death of her uncle.

Samantha Grindrod, aged 27, of Blackley Close, Bury, sobbed in the dock at Bolton Crown Court as she was jailed for 16 months after admitting theft.

The court heard that she was the financial controller at GB Car Loans in Bolton, a small firm which employs 10 people, and had worked there for five years.

She duplicated payments to genuine companies, with one of the payments going into her bank account.

It was spotted by company director Nathan Ridings, who looked over the accounts when she was on leave in August last year, and he found a significant series of errors.

He discovered that 57 transactions, worth £47,000, had been paid into the defendant’s bank account in the previous six weeks.

She had been stealing the money over a 10-month period.

The court was told that Grindrod struggled to cope with the death of her uncle, Andrew Anderson, and that it sparked a gambling and drink problem.

Mr Anderson was assaulted in Dunkirk Park, off Rufford Drive, Whitefield, on March 1, 2009, and later died in hospital.

Ann Deakin, defending, said an inquest last week found that he died as a result of the assault.

Judge Timothy Clayson, sentencing, said: “I have taken into account your circumstances but the court has to have regard for the other side of the coin.

“You pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and you will get full credit for that.

“The personal circumstances which triggered this offending are substantial mitigation in my judgement so I can take a lower starting point. It is not, however, possible to pass a sentence other than immediate custody.”