Plymouth thief who can't remember stealing £500,000
A PLYMOUTH woman who stole £500,000 from her employer and spent the lot has begun a long jail sentence.
Tessa Phillips made company cheques payable to herself, stealing more than half a million pounds between July 2003 and the end of 2008.
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Yesterday at Plymouth Crown Court, she pleaded guilty to a single charge of theft.
The court heard that none of the money was left, Phillips having spent it on holidays and on securing and paying mortgages.
The properties she bought have since been repossessed.
She took the money from Advanced Hearing Systems Ltd, trading as Gary Parker Hearing Systems Ltd, a firm based at Mannamead Road in Plymouth.
Jo Martin, for Phillips, said her client suffered from psychogenic amnesia and, despite pleading guilty, could not recall committing the thefts.
"She has forgotten a large period of her life," she said.
Judge Francis Gilbert ordered a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service, and said Phillips would be sentenced on April 9.
He refused to grant bail to Phillips, of Haystone Place off North Road West, despite Miss Martin insisting there was no risk of her client absconding or re-offending.
Judge Gilbert said Phillips, 55, would inevitably receive a jail sentence measured in years, and would begin serving it immediately. Issues of compensation and confiscation would be dealt with on the day of sentencing.
Outside the court, Mr Parker said: "Tessa was a lovely person – incredibly helpful and superbly efficient.
"I trusted her to do her side of the accounting, so this came as a tremendous shock to me.
"She cleaned out the account of a lifetime of work, savings and investments – all I'd been working for since 1988.
"There was no bottom in the account; we were in the red.
"She was signing the Lloyds TSB cheques with a very poorly forged version of my signature, which I would have thought the bank would have spotted."
Mr Parker, 51, said Phillips, his office manager, had been able to get away with it for so long by falsifying the accounts, writing down the stolen amounts as payments to suppliers.
After 18 months of negotiation, Mr Parker said he and Lloyds TSB went to mediation, and 85 per cent of the money was returned to him by the bank.
Asked about Phillips' amnesia, Mr Parker added: "I've known her since 2003 and I now think she's a pathological crook."
15 Comments
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by The Locksmith, Barbican
Friday, March 12 2010, 7:03PM
“Roy Twing:
I couldn't agree more. Another example of incompetence and stupidity from our resident comedy Judge.”
by Mick, Barbican
Friday, March 12 2010, 6:59PM
“Quote- Mr Parker said-"She was signing Lloyds TSB cheques with a very poorly forged version of my signature, which I would have thought the bank would have spotted."
Mr Parker said he and Lloyds TSB went to mediation, and 85 per cent of the money was returned to him by the bank"
Lloyds are a mess, i went in yesterday to change a bunch of fivers into £50 notes but was told after queuing for 20 minutes- "sorry we've got no £50 notes at the moment, try again some other time"”
by tinks, plymouth
Friday, March 12 2010, 6:58PM
“No bail??!! Oh well she can spend the time on remand remembering all those loverly holidays she had. Or maybe not.......”
by accountant, plymouth
Friday, March 12 2010, 6:47PM
“Well said Phil
Speaking generally, I have no knowledge or involvement in this specific case.
Only large companies normally need an audit. Even if an independent accountant was involved, they only have to certify that the statutory accounts are in agreement with the records they are presented with.
The ultimate responsibility for the accounts and for detecting any ¿fraud¿ remains with the business directors.
In the age of computers, scanners, printers, email and online banking it is very easy to mock up a fake invoice to generate a fraudulent payment or produce other false records.
An independent accountant has no power to force a client to take their advice or listen to their concerns, if for example, they were to raise concerns about repeated losses or low margins.
I suppose I should be shocked at the amount involved in this case as surely the owner of the business should have noticed this scale of fraud. However it always amazes me the number of clients that don¿t have the faintest idea of what their business results are like to be and many will quite happily sign anything put in front of them without question.”
by Mick, Barbican
Friday, March 12 2010, 4:07PM
“Quote-"She took the money from Gary Parker Hearing Systems Ltd.
Mr Parker said: 'Tessa was a lovely person ¿ incredibly helpful and superbly efficient"
Ni mind mate, you can always set her on again when she's done her time”