Shropshire Star

Mother stole over £170,000 from Telford company she worked at

A financial controller and mother-of-two stole more than £170,000 from the Telford company where she worked.

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Tracey Ashmore, 41, began stealing money from Rubber and Plastics Research Association (Rapra) by making direct payments into her own bank accounts and that of her son just one month after she started her new job with the company, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told.

Ashmore told investigators that redirecting the funds, the equivalent of one year's turnover for the company, had been "all too easy" and "nobody seemed to notice", a prosecutor said.

Ashmore was picked to work at Rubber and Plastics Research Association (Rapra), based on the Wolverhampton University Campus in Telford, by its executive director Steve Shaw who had worked with her previously.

In a victim statement read out in court Mr Shaw said he felt "extremely disappointed, betrayed and let down by Tracey's actions".

Ashmore was hired in May 12, 2011 and started diverting funds the following month to buy a house, said Miss Bulvinder Bhatti, prosecuting.

The mother of two from Pitchford Drive, Priorslee, siphoned off £170,347 in 71 transactions until the company became aware of the fraud in August 2014.

Miss Bhatti said that the fraud was discovered after Ashmore was sacked by the company for unrelated matters.

Mr Shaw found that she had placed a lock on the company account and was refusing to return a laptop that contained the firm's accounting details.

"For Tracey to steal such a large amount of money has put all this in jeopardy," said Mr Shaw, who added that the sum was the equivalent of the firm's annual turnover.

"The more she did it, the bolder she got and eventually she was pleased that she was caught," said Miss Bhatti.

Ashmore had previously pleaded guilty to fraud by dishonestly abusing her position when she appeared at Telford Magistrates on March 11.

On Wednesday she was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

Judge John Gosling said: "This was a calculated deception over many months and steps were taken to cover up any enquires by the production of fake invoices."

He added that Ashmore's claim that the fraud had been easy because nobody had been looking at the accounts as "absurd."

"It is precisely because she was entrusted alone with the money that nobody noticed it was going missing," he said.

The judge said he "did not doubt for one moment her remorse" but that "the sheer scale" of the fraud required an immediate prison sentence.

For Ashmore, Mr James Bruce said that the defendant had initially used the money to buy out the family home, following a divorce which took place in the month she joined the company.

Faced with a monthly mortgage of £839, she began to steal money, said Mr Bruce.

"It was a pre-emptive action to avoid falling into debt" and was "born out of a fear of destabilising the family," he added.

The court was told that she was a woman of previous good character and was "more than willing" to repay the money.

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