Greedy Bury accountant stole £80k from boss while daughter fought for life

Laura Fielding, 36, who earned £43,000 a year looted cash from the company accounts of Bolton businesswoman Lynsey Pogson on 43 occasions whilst  the victim's daughter was fighting for her life with sepsis.

Over an eight year period Fielding, of Walmersley Road, Bury secretly spent Mrs Pogson's income on supermarket shopping sprees, council tax bills, games consoles for her two stepchildren and even a speed awareness course for her partner.

She  was caught after she used a company credit card to buy  food at Tesco's when Mrs Pogson's Manchester-based advertising  firm Agenda Media, had an account with Sainsbury's. Inquiries revealed £86,104 went missing during 1,000 fraudulent transactions.

Fielding's attempts to use accountancy work to cover up the thefts also led to Mrs Pogson being fined £20,000 by the HMRC for late tax payments.

In a statement Mrs Pogson, 46, lives in Bolton and runs the firm with husband Simon, 49, said: ''Laura knew how hard we worked to build the company and grew close to me and my family. She was present and involved as the business grew and succeeded. She was seen as an extended member of our family.

"Building a business and juggling a family was difficult and emotional at times, and the defendant established herself as someone who would always have the business interests at the forefront of her mind.

"Her behaviour caused me significant professional and personal anguish. The business was a personal triumph but the fact I trusted the defendant only for her to abuse that trust has left me questioning my business acumen.

"I wonder whether I was targeted and groomed by her, which leaves me very upset. She was a manipulative, greedy and calculating thief.

"I find it difficult to trust others and at times question whether I can continue in business. My workload has increased as I have had to take on the business' financial responsibilities. I am unable to trust anyone in the role I had given her.

"I am almost broken by her behaviour. She was given intimate access to my family circumstances and trying to comprehend the abuse of trust tested my marriage, and the children have experienced the consequences through tension at home.

"My mental health has taken a downward spiral and have had to try therapy to regain control and the ability to trust others in my life. My family have been through some traumatic times and she used those to systematically steal.

"In October 2017 our young daughter had to go to hospital for surgery, and we gave her 24-hour bedside care. During that period the defendant stole £3,500. In May 2018 our daughter was hospitalised with sepsis and the defendant used the credit card 43 times."

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Fielding admitted theft by employee. She insisted she had only stolen £76,892.43. She will face a Proceeds of Crime hearing later.

Prosecutor David James said: "The defendant had been an accountant for 15 years and was in a professional relationship with her victims Lynsey and Simon Pogson, who set up Agenda Media. They had used a local accountancy firm and the defendant was the point of contact between Agenda Media and that firm.

"The relationship continued until 2011, at which point Agenda Media had proven themselves to be a commercial success. They had a good working relationship which started in 2004, and the defendant remained in contact with them after she left her job with the accountancy firm.

"The defendant expressed unhappiness in her new job and Agenda Media got a new financial officer to better allow the directors to focus on their business goals. The defendant put herself forward for this position and was given the job.

"The defendant appeared to be a natural in this position and always behaved in a business-like and professional manner with clients. She was trusted to look after the interests of the business and was considered 'part of the family', sharing in the 'emotional rollercoaster' of working at a new, expanding business.

"Agenda Media soon moved from Bury into Manchester city centre and a restructure took place. The defendant became their financial executive in August 2011 on a starting salary of £32,000 a year. She soon became financial controller and her pay increased to £43,000 a year.

"Remuneration was said to be extremely generous and her pay was said to exceed that of many better qualified accountants at similar firms.

"The defendant had access to all business accounts to transfer money. She had total control of the company accounts, finances and information about them was passed to the company directors and accountants. She managed expenses and was given a Barclays company credit card. She was told it was to be used for Agenda Media spending only.

"The thefts appear to have started immediately. The amounts significantly increased year on year until the defendant walked out of her position in November 2018.  Initially her behaviour appeared both competent and honest. She had strict control over the finances, was frugal and challenged other employees about their spending. The trust placed in her by directors increased over time and they gave her more control.

"Over time issues arose between her and the directors about her conduct. When requests for financial information were made confusing explanations were given by the defendant. Money moved between accounts for no clear reason.

"There were cash flow issues with a subsidiary and a company within the group was being considerably underbilled for rent. The defendant gave financial information so late issues were arising with HMRC.

"Payment plans were set up to deal with these cash flow issues. By 2018 a new software was being proposed as it would stop delays in payments to HMRC, and give directors greater access to company accounts, financial information and expenditure.

"The defendant was extremely resistant to the change to a more open and accessible system but her resistance was clearly because the old system allowed her to hide financial abuse and submit accounts late. 

''The new system was installed in Autumn 2018 and questions about the misuse of the company credit card first arose in August that year as a £1,103.67 payment had been made which did not appear to have been for company purposes.

"The system then flagged unusual card use in November 2018. Mrs Pogson became more involved and she noticed a parking payment had been made on the company card. This appeared unusual because employees had access to a company parking card.

"She went to question the defendant about this payment and the defendant appeared nervous and tried to blame another employee before saying she had made the payment because she forgot her own card.

''As a result of the way the defendant reacted to being asked about this, and because of the underlying issues that had started to be identified, Mrs Pogson asked to see the company credit card statements. This sealed the defendant's fate.

"The defendant did not hand over the statements, so Mrs Pogson left the defendant's desk and returned to her own desk to try to get the statements via the new software. Mrs Pogson saw the defendant had spent money at an off-licence in Worsley and the defendant walked out of the office.

"The defendant left a note saying, 'I am deeply sorry for the misuse of the company credit card and I have left with immediate effect because I assume this is what you want.'

"Mrs Pogson tried to contact the defendant and she eventually answered the phone. She was told to return to the office and apologise for her behaviour. When asked about it she said she had started to misuse the card from the start of 2018 but didn't say the amount that was involved.

"Mrs Pogson had no idea this was another lie and tried to be understanding, but she was in shock. The defendant was dismissed from her employment with immediate effect.  The company then reviewed the annual credit card statements and found issues on a number of cards relating to this defendant from 2011 onwards.

"The purchases included cash for family holidays, flights, hotels, High Street purchases, Amazon purchases, supermarket shopping, games consoles for family, petrol, a speed awareness course for her partner and council tax bills. She had bought food at Tesco's when the company had an account with Sainsbury's, which looked particularly suspicious.

"The matters were reported to police who had a huge task verifying each transaction. The total amount stolen was £86,104.60. There were more than 1,000 thefts over an eight-year period.''

In mitigation for Fielding, who is now claiming Universal Credit, defence lawyer Julian Goode said: "She wishes to make clear her remorse, shame, regret and attrition. She did not spend the money on lavish items and some of the purchases were from small high street shops.

"She is the author of her own demise and is right to say this conviction will stop her career prospects in that field. She is trying to turn her life around.''

But sentencing Judge Sophie McKone told her: "For eight years you were a much-trusted employee of Simon and Lynsey Pogson. You had a good salary and were soon given the prestigious job title of financial controller. You were undoubtedly in a position of trust. Such was that trust that you had almost total control of the finances of an expanding company, and you were given a company credit card.

"But almost from the outset you began to betray that trust by stealing from your employers. You used the company credit card as a kind of personal credit card. Your desire to delay the day the company would find out what you were doing had consequences for them, as it led to them being fined £20,000 by HMRC for failure to make payments.

"You were manipulative, calculating and greedy. When one of your victims was going through a time of crisis, there you were using their money.  Your offending has had a significant impact on her both professionally and personally and there is very little chance of your victims being able to retrieve anything like the amount of money you stole from them.''