Worksop woman stole £1.4m from bosses to splash out on shopping, cars, luxury holidays and home improvements

Deborah Thorlby-Hall, 55, began stealing from construction firm SDE Limited, based in Stanfree and Staveley, in 2008, having been taken on as an accounts assistant three years earlier.

Derby Crown Court heard between 2008 and 2019 she pilfered £1.4 million, transferring the funds into her own Halifax bank account and spending the cash on cars, home improvements and shopping.

The bookkeeper splashed out on a Harley Davidson for her husband, two luxury holidays including a cruise and a trip to Barbados and house improvements.

Thorlby-Hall spent £27,000 on the Postcode Lottery, winning £183,000, splurged £28,000 on Amazon and £87,000 at Next and gifted over £240,000 to her husband and son.

Judge Martin Hurst told Thorlby-Hall when she started stealing she had been in charge of finances for 18 months.

He added: “By then you knew the system inside out and you realised that only you had access to the bank and only you had overall control of the access to the accounts package.

"No-one was in a position to understand or challenge the figures you provided.

"You knew you were living a lavish lifestyle – you were riding around Worksop and Clowne in a Range Rover Evoque and were obviously living far beyond your means.”

Former care worker Thorlby-Hall covered her tracks by creating false invoices, describing money transfers from company accounts as ‘payments to large suppliers’.

However, she was finally exposed for the 11-year con when external accountants were unable to reconcile Thorlby-Hall’s books with bank statements.

Judge Hurst, sentencing Thorlby-Hall on Thursday, October 3, described how when she started working at SDE in July 2005 as an accounts assistant the company was still relatively small.

However, as the years went by, despite ‘significant increases’ in turnover, profitability was not rising accordingly.

The court heard how the defendant’s grip on finances at the firm was strengthened, gaining sole access, when its finance director left and by January 2014 she had been appointed finance director, regularly attending directors’ meetings.

Judge Martin Hurst said what bosses did not know was that the defendant had begun making regular money transfers from SDE’s accounts in her own Halifax bank account, covering her tracks by creating false invoices.

By May 2019 an external accountant began having ‘concerns’ about discrepancies between SDE’s bank statements and Thorlby-Hall’s books.

Judge Hurt told the defendant: “She (the external accountant) had also noticed that despite significant increases in the turnover of the business – profitability had not risen accordingly.

"She identified that costs might not be being properly controlled.

"You were loading costs onto the company that were invisible to her and anyone else looking at the accounts.”

The court heard that when Thorlby-Hall was interviewed in 2019 she tried to pin the blame for her pilfering on the external accountant – who was herself arrested and interviewed by police.

While a company probe into its accounts continued in 2019 Thorlby-Hall went off sick with stress and never returned, however she later attended the office on a Sunday to clear her desk, where she accessed the company accounts – making one final transfer to herself of over £7,000.

A forensic accounting investigation later showed that over the court of 11 years Thorlby-Hall had paid herself more than £1.4 million, describing the transfers as payments to large suppliers.

Judge Hurst said: “You spent that money on general living expenses, cars for yourself and your husband and your son.

"A Harley Davidson for your husband, two luxury holidays on a cruise and in Barbados and house improvements.”

Thorlby-Hall spent £27,000 on the Postcode Lottery, winning £183,000 and splashed out £28,000 on Amazon and £87,000 at Next.

The court heard in an ‘unattractive’ defence claim during her trial Thorlby-Hall said she had given a cash withdrawal of £152,000 to SDE managing director Jonathan Bennett – a claim rejected by the court.

Judge Hurst said the cash withdrawal money had never been found but he concluded ‘the overwhelming likelihood is a lot of that money was spent on the building works you were having done at your home’.

The defendant spent £136,000 on credit cards, giving her husband £105,000 and her son £137,000 – the latter gift being ‘frittered on gambling’.

Thorlby-Hall, of Dunstan Crescent, Worksop, was found guilty after a trial of fraud by abuse of position and false accounting.

She was jailed for six years and banned from acting as a company director for 10 years.