A company manager who left her boss on the brink of bankruptcy after she stole money from the till to pay for a holiday to Turkey wept as she walked free from court.
Mother of two Karen Miller, earned £36,000 a year - and took more than £18,000 for her own use whilst paying out wages to staff at a roofing firm.
A court heard she spent the money on the trip and on her secret addiction to amphetamines.
Miller, 49, was found out after she was suspended for swearing at her boss Ian Morrison, director of Clad-It Ltd in Chadderton, near Oldham.
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He and his fellow director examined her work PC following a tip off she was stealing money and found various illicit cash deposits had made into the bank account of her barmaid daughter Shauna Miller, 22.
In a statement Mr Morrison, 43, said: ''In the aftermath of what happened, we began struggling with the the business due to Covid and I had to to go to the GP for anxiety. I was very stressed and I feel very aggrieved by what Karen did.
"I thought I could trust her to have access to all of the money the business made. I thought there was genuine trust there and I placed that in her. The company was close to failing and it will take a long time to understand what happened.''
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Miller, of Radcliffe Street, Royton, admitted fraud by abuse of position between February 2018 and May 2019.
She was sentenced to 16 months jail, suspended for two years. She was also ordered to complete 250 hours unpaid work.
Her daughter, also of Radcliffe Street, admitted fraud and was given 24 weeks jail suspended for 18 months and an order to complete 150 hours unpaid work.
Miller, who now manages spreadsheets at another firm, joined Clad-It in 2011 as a book keeper to produce invoices for the company to use.
Prosecutor Neil Ronan said: "She is not a qualified accountant but was paid £36,000 p/a and she was considered to be an asset to the company.
“She started to pay the wages and had the same login details one of the directors something they would come to regret. She could be trusted to pay invoices and wages. Karen would suggest there was not enough money in the account to pay the wages. They thought she was looking out for their own interests. She has two children, one is the co-defendant.
“At times when Karen was working, she would say she was skint. She would take time off sick for sometimes three days per month, but the directors found it acceptable due to the close working relationship they thought they had with her.
“The first time the company became aware was when Shauna’s boyfriend told the company that Karen had been stealing money and then transferring it to the co-defendants bank account.
''The directors checked and initially found nothing untoward. However, they started struggling financially as a result of this. On one occasion, Karen transferred money to an ex-employee but that is not part of these proceedings.
“On July 29, 2020, Karen called Mr Morrison a ‘d**khead’ out of the blue. She was suspended on full pay during that time. It was during that time off that Miss Miller’s computer work checked. They found personal items which contained Shauna’s bank details.
''On close scrutiny they found funds between accounts had been transferred to the total of £18,207.34 had been siphoned out of the company by Karen to Shauna’s bank account. This amount has not been paid back.
“Both defendants were arrested and interviewed. Karen said she was struggling and was in debt. She said she made the first payment of around £1,000 to herself but she thought it was too obvious so next time she used Shauna’s account.
''She said she had the same login details as one of the directors and understood the business was doing well a that time. She was ashamed of what she had done although she had been to Turkey with the money despite apparently struggling financially.
''Shauna said her mum was transferring money from her place of work to her and then she would transfer it into her mum’s account. At the time, she was only 18 and she just took her mum’s word for what was going on.
“This was sophisticated offending. Karen used her own account using invoices but then moved to using her daughter's account. The business was close to failing. It had a significant (impact) on one of the victims with stress and anxiety. It had a detrimental impact on the business.”
Miller and her daughter had no previous convictions.
In mitigation for Miller, defence counsel Miss Rhia Abukhalil said: ''She is repaying £200 each month to the Clad-It company and is remorseful and regrets what she has done.
''She has taken steps off her own back to address her addiction to speed and has now been clean for two years. There are financial problems, trauma she has suffered and she also has mental and physically difficulties. She would lose the family home if she was sentenced to immediate custody today. There would be significant harm on her children.''
Representing Shauna, Richard Orme said: ''There have been issues with ketamine and cocaine and there is work to be done. She had been involved in an inappropriate relationship whilst she was a teenager with a male in his 50s. It was unhealthy for her and it involved threats that if she chose to leave him, then he would report the matter to the police.
''As a result of leaving him, that is the matter which caused it to come to the attention of the police, she knew that was going to happen. Whilst not purposefully doing so, it is down to her action that this case has come to light. She knew her bank account was used and it would be wrong but immediate custody would have a devastating effect on her own mental well-being. She is remorseful for her actions.”
Sentencing the judge Mr Recorder Carwyn Cox said: “Karen, you had a salary equivalent to an accountant. You had the responsibility of paying wages and a significant responsibility of having the bank login. Your daughter Shauna was with another man and he led the directors to detect that you Karen might have been taking money from the company and transferring it to your daughter.
''The allegation he made initially could not proved and at that stage there was insufficient evidence to say if you had been taking the money. The directors at that time were working hard on the business and were under pressure.
“It was only when you were suspended from work after an outburst that the company gained access to your computer and noticed the dishonesty that had taken place. There was a financial impact suffered and it was during the Covid pandemic.
''As a result of these events, Mr Morrison has a significant issue of trusting people and he has suffered anxiety and stress. There was abuse of your position and power and you involved your daughter. This required significant planning and there was a considerable detrimental impact on the business and the victims.
“But you are deemed to be at a low risk of reoffending and harm to the public. Someone who is said to be caring and diligent, quite why you chose to embark on this offending is something only you will know yourself. Consider yourself lucky that you are not going to prison.”
