Carla Ann Riddock (34) appeared before the Royal Court yesterday where it was heard that she had used the money to pay for child-maintenance costs and rent.
She stole from a small firm of electricians, which the court heard had been significantly affected, with its owner unable to buy a house as well as suffering ongoing anxiety and sleep deprivation.
Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, said the defendant joined the company in 2016 as an office manager and was tasked with handling the company accounts, as well as paying staff wages and settling bills.
The court heard that in December 2019 a supplier, Yess Electrical, contacted the business’s owner to ask why a £2,964.48 bill had not been paid. After checking company records it transpired that, although the payment reference stated ‘Yess Electrical’, Riddock had in fact sent the money to her own account.
Further checks of the accounts revealed that between 2016 and 2019 she had stolen £72,396.94. Riddock was arrested on 21 March last year.
The prosecution had called for a sentence of two years and six months in prison. But Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending, explained to the court that her client had not taken the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, but had instead done so to pay child-maintenance costs and rent.
She added that her client had been fully co-operative with the police investigation, had entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and had accepted that she would be facing prison.
Explaining the background to Riddock’s offending, Advocate Dix said that despite being on a modest £200- to £400-per-week salary, she had to pay child support to a former partner who had threatened her with legal action and had demanded more money than she was already paying. She added that her client was also liable to pay 50% of any additional costs, such as the price of school uniforms and school trips.
Advocate Dix added that Riddock sincerely regretted the damage she had caused to her former employer’s business, as well as the impact that her offending had had on him, his friends and his family.
In delivering the court’s sentence, Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, presiding, noted the ‘significant’ impact the offending had had on the business and its owner.
He added that there were no exceptional circumstances which would allow the court to impose a non-custodial sentence. The court decided not to impose a compensation order as Riddock had no funds.
Jurats Charles Blampied and Jane Ronge were sitting.
