Judge criticises Kilclief woman who stole cash from employer

Judge criticises Kilclief woman who stole cash from employer

24 January 2018

A KILCLIEF woman who stole almost £70,000 from a local shopkeeper to pay for her gambling addiction has been told that she should be ashamed.

Judge Piers Grant said Catherine Margaret Quinn had betrayed the trust shown to her by her employer.

At Newtownards Crown Court on Friday, Quinn (28), of Ballycottin, was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and was also placed on probation for two years.

Acknowledging that Quinn had paid back the money with the help of her family, Judge Grant said it was with “hesitation” that he was not imposing an immediate custodial sentence.

However, he ordered her to pay an additional £5,000 by means of compensation, which, he said, would go “some way to assuage the full degree of hurt she had inflicted.”

Quinn had been responsible for lodging the takings of two shops in Downpatrick and Strangford, where she had been employed for seven years.

She admitted lodging £68,829.74 to her own bank account over a nine-month period between February and November 2015.

She then transferred the money to a Paypal account, which she used to fund her online gambling addiction.

The fraud was uncovered when the proprietor of the shops noticed a significant shortfall between the takings and the bank lodgements. A subsequent investigation confirmed Quinn had deposited the money into her own account.

Quinn was unable to explain to investigators how she had access to such quantities of money when she earned just £12,000 per year. 

After losing her job she later began proceedings for unfair dismissal against her employer.

However, she pleaded guilty to charges of fraud by abuse of position and concealing criminal property at Downpatrick Crown on January 11 when a defence barrister said she had not told anyone about the position she was in and had “effectively buried her head in the sand.”

The barrister said Quinn was drawn to gambling as a way of “throwing herself in the hands of fate to see what happens.”

Quinn had been remanded in custody until she appeared at Newtownards on Friday.

Passing sentence, Judge Grant said it was a “most dishonest and hurtful series of offences by someone who was trusted by a family and had worked closely with them on the premises.”

Judge Grant said he noted that Quinn had used the money for gambling purposes.

“This is a salutary warning for anyone involved in gambling,” he continued. “You don’t win with gambling. You do not win with betting. That is not to say it should be made illegal. That is a fact of life.”

Judge Grant said it was a serious breach of trust and it was “quite clear” that it had “deeply upset” her employer who had to make considerable efforts to turn the business around.

He told Quinn: “You did not plead guilty to these offences at the outset. Outrageously you issued proceedings against your employer for unfair dismissal when you knew you had stolen a substantial sum of money.

“That rubbed salt into the wounds suffered by this family. It was outrageous behaviour on your part and you should be ashamed.”

Judge Grant said the sentence he was imposing was not a “soft option”. He warned Quinn: “Make no mistake. If you put a foot wrong during this disposal you will go to jail.”