Mum stole £31k to pay son’s drug debt (From This Is Cheshire)

Mum stole £31k to pay son’s drug debt

10:30am Friday 10th February 2012 in News By Hannah Bargery

A GREAT Sankey mum who siphoned off more than £31,000 from her employers to pay off her son’s drug debt has been jailed.

Lesley Sim, of Malvern Close, got the job at BCA Logistics through the help of her sister.

But when she went on holiday, Sim used her sister’s authorisation device to put business payments into her personal account.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Friday the 50-year-old knew she would be caught but it gave her a ‘month’s relief’ after her windows had been smashed and sinister messages had been sent to her daughter through social networking site Facebook.

David Farley, prosecuting, said Sim had been handed a permanent contract in the payrole team at the Birchwood company in April last year.

She stole £31,361.51 through transactions between June 29 and August 14.

The payments were meant for three different businesses but Sim changed the bank account and sort code details to her own using her sister’s device to authorise it.

Mr Farley said: “According to the finance director, the amount stolen was five to 10 per cent of their annual profit.”

Her son owed £27,000 after becoming addicted to heroin and her husband had lost his job A bankruptcy petition had been served while she was seated outside court.

Sim had previous convictions for theft dating back to 1982 and had been given a suspended sentence in 2007 for obtaining services by deception.

Nicholas Williams, defending, said: “She was under considerable pressure to repay that debt.

“Her husband had lost his job leading to family debts in excess of £5,000 and she felt the responsibility was on her to do something about it.”

Sim pleaded guilty to a charge of theft and was jailed for 16 months.