A woman who carried out a £180,000 scam was discovered when she made one £37.80 purchase at a B&Q store. Tracy Ellis stole money from her employer - a small firm - over a period of five years for which she acted as a bookkeeper.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday that Ellis, 52, was building contractor Ingham and Garner Ltd which operated for the NHS and other public sector clients. Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, described how Ellis, of Hall Street in St Helens, was tasked with paying invoices and looking after petty cash as part of her role, the Liverpool Echo reported.
She had become responsible on her own for the accounts from 2013, the court was told. On May 9 last year, company director Jennifer Burrows noticed that the business account had been used to complete a £37.80 transaction at B&Q in St Helens the previous day. She then confronted the defendant, as they were the only members of staff who had been entrusted with the pin number for this card.
