A FINANCE boss has been jailed after stealing nearly £500,000 from a Manchester-based charity.
Lesley Pickens got the job despite the charity knowing she had previously been in prison for deception.
She was trusted but she paid thousands of pounds a month from the charity into her bank account over 10 years to pay off family debts after her husband was made redundant.
Manchester Crown Court was told there was no evidence that Pickens, 59, who lives in a £250,000 cottage in Oldham, used the money to fund a luxury lifestyle.
But after she was jailed for three years and four months, the M.E.N discovered that during the time of the thefts she enjoyed several holidays abroad.
She had various trips to America and went on one holiday with her husband to the Caribbean where they renewed their wedding vows.
Police have not found any other luxuries which Pickens could have bought with the £479,133 she stole between 1998 and last year while working for Rathbone Training, based on Oxford Street.
Pickens, in remission from cancer, pleaded guilty to 25 thefts from the charity, set up to help youngsters get more education and jobs.
Offences
She asked for more than 100 other offences to be considered.
Judge Michael Henshell said she had breached the trust of the charity which had taken her on despite knowing she had once served two months in jail for deception against a previous employer.
The judge said of the charity case: "While the thefts were relatively simple they were effective because nobody suspected you and you enjoyed the trust of everybody around you."
Pickens, of Flash Cottages, Oldham, was given a job by Rathbone Training, which currently has a £31m a year turnover, despite telling them of her previous conviction.
Her salary over the years was between £1,200 and £1,400 a month after tax.
Money was stolen at least once a month, but the sums escalated from about £25,000 in the first year to more than £66,000 a year.
Finance manager Pickens was trapped when her husband died and she took leave.The head of finance spotted some of the payments.
She was arrested and admitted the offences, which she hid from her husband by shredding their bank statements.
Richard Williams, of Rathbone Training, said: "Our insurance arrangements have made sure that Rathbone's work with young people has not been affected at all by this fraud."
Comments
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Her house should be given to the charity - simple!
ten years inside and sell her house to pay every penny back.
beyond belief,her crime and her sentence
Stealing from those that need it the most.The lowest of the low.
TIME WE BROUGHT BACK THE STOCKS
can i apply for a job at that place.
This beggars belief,the morons in charge of the charity knew that she had been banged up for deception yet they still went ahead and gave her the job,what were they thinking of.This does sound like a case of the lunatics taking over the asylum!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are the people that employed her mad ? Who would employ a convicted thief ? And as for that judge's comments that there was no evidence she used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, I wonder what numerous trips to the US and the Caribbean could be classed as ? The judge sounds as mad as the charity !
I wonder if She deliberately went there to find rich pickens.
The charity interviewing panel should be investigated as to why they gave this person the job of financial responsibility knowing of her "weaknesses." I feel sorry for other ex-offenders who will not be given a chance.
not bad though. 3 and half years. for half a million. she will be out in 18 month... makes you think doesn't it....
Leopards and spots.
She profits from her crimes so she continues.
and people why you should think twice about giving to charity.she should forfiet her home or will the judge be charitable to her.also the wages she received would be very welcome to a lot of people for sitting in a warm office fleecing kind hearted mugs
Yes the people who employed her should also be held responsible.this cunning thief should have been monitered at regular intervals ..
Wot a lot of Morons..maxxie
Despicable!!
As a rare case of a Mancunian rising from absolute utter poverty and total failure at school I worked my way through three jobs while at College (one in Gorton for £2.50 an hour until 2am and riding a bike home past gangs with guns) I graduated and now work in law enforcement. It has been a horrifically hard struggle which very few Mancunians will ever be bothered to get off their lazy backsides and do ..... so charities like this are the only hope for a lot of youths!
This countrys judges are a laughing stock.. Id be happy to do 18 months inside for half a million, beats doing 12 hour shifts like i do now :(
Why can't she pay the money back and failing that,confiscate her assets to cover the theft?
Rathbones receives money from the "Learning and Skills Council" and "Jobcentre plus" - as well as numerous grants from other charitable arms of the Government.
All this is taxpayers cash.
To employ someone as a Finance Boss - who as a previous conviction for deception is negligent to the extreme.
This was taxpayers cash - and other heads should roll
£500,000 over 10 years to pay off family debts after her husband was made redundant.?, What so they were in debt for half a mill, when she started?, or this debt accumulated whilst she was thieving?, or is she lying trash?. What relationship was there to her and the person/people that gave her the job?, there must have been one!
Having once worked with Rathbones overseeing their contracts i am not surprised, their senior Bosses mostly came from the senior ranks of Jobcentre so this made Jobcentre staff now overseeing contracts very worried about critising anything about Rathbone.
She lived in a £250,000 cottage. So when fallen on hard times - and trust me you could get cheap houses in Oldham for under £40,000 10 years ago - would it not have made more sense and been more honest to sell up and downsize to a more affordable property?
Simple. Sell her assets and make her pay it back. She was just greedy.
these judges studied for yrs and are letting people get away with short sentences and fines for bad crimes why are they still in control of a court room. i feel for the family.
regards to a comment made about mancs some people want to work just like you did for your 2.50 an hr, but don't get another help and thats why there s kids on the street! also employers won't employ with lack of qualifications and experience so thats why people are on the dole