Office worker stole �2,000 from company

AN office worker has been ordered to carry out unpaid work and repay more than �2,000 she embezzled from her employer.

Tracey Waite pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by false representation at South East Magistrates' Court after admitting the temptation was too strong to resist.

The 38-year-old, from Main Road, Kesgrave, admitted making six business cheques out to herself while an administrative assistant with contract cleaners B&G Services Anglia.

Waite's nine-month deception went undetected until directors picked up on financial discrepancies when she left the company in December last year.

Lesla Small, prosecuting, revealed that Waite's biggest forgery came in the form of a �482 cheque made out in her name and paid into her own bank account.

Ms Small said: “She had developed financial difficulties and had full access to the company chequebook and petty cash till.”

Waite told the court that she was unhappy and not comfortable in her position with the company at the time.

She added: “I have no explanation for why I did it. I've never done anything like it before.”

District Judge David Cooper ordered Waite to pay B&G Services Anglia �2,064 in compensation and complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

Geoffrey Bennett, managing director of the company, said: “We didn't know the money had gone missing until we discovered something was wrong but she had already left the company.

“We wrote to her to give her the opportunity to admit what she had done but our letters were ignored.

“I think the sentence she received was appropriate for what was, as far as we know, a first offence.

“This kind of crime needs to be brought attention to because people in her line of work, who are handling money, need to know they can't get away with theft.

Should those who commit fraud be punished more severely by the courts? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk