Crime Solicitors

A mother who stole £400,000 from her employer has been jailed for three years and nine months at Exeter Crown Court.

The Mirror reports that 43-year-old Sharron Tricker from Exeter worked for a scaffolding company owned by a friend, Mark Saunders, who was also the godfather of Mrs Tricker’s teenage son.

The court heard she systematically stole the funds using her positions as office manager and company secretary to conceal the theft.

Between 2007 and 2012, Mrs Tricker and her ex-husband Paul earned £136,000 – over the same period, however, the couple spent around £457,000 on holidays, cars and mopeds, home improvements, gym equipment, a widescreen television and family bills.

The court was told Tricker spent £25,000 on a BMW 325i during the five years she was taking money from her employer to fund a “luxury” lifestyle.

The court also heard that Tricker had previously been caught stealing £15,000 from Mr Saunder’s company. However, her friend and boss chose to give her a second chance – and Tricker worked for the company for two years to repay the money, before embarking on another spate of fraud to conceal theft of the company’s funds.

Tricker also tried to pay her rent arrears using £3,850 from the firm after police had arrested her, the court was told.

Police officers had found paperwork at her home which suggested she had tried to cover up the theft – the documents were described as “damning”.

Tricker admitted one charge of fraud at Exeter Crown Court and was told she “bit the hand that fed you” by Judge Elizabeth Rylands.

“It is a truly appalling crime involving a breach of trust borne not of necessity or need, but out of straightforward greed,” the judge said.

Tricker’s defence lawyers told the court she knew what she had done was wrong and acknowledged her wrongdoing.

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