Manager jailed over £250,000 thefts from pickle firm

Emma Ellis, 41, worked for family-run pickle and chutney firm Shaws of Moldgreen, Huddersfield, for 22 years and had taken over the management of the businesses accounts in the mid-1990s.

The court heard yesterday that Ellis, who wept through much of the proceedings, stole £253,477 between September 2004 and June last year.

She financed two cars, paid for luxury holidays in Florida and Ibiza and splashed out on electrical goods. Some of the money was used to pay off credit card bills.

Bradford Crown Court heard that after working through the ranks, Ellis had sole responsibility for company accounts.

This was a responsibility she went on to abuse, obtaining money transfers by deception and fraud, the court was told.

Due to an electronic invoicing system, she was able to change invoice amounts owed to suppliers and siphon off the extra money.

The court heard that Ellis, of Huddersfield, was so trusted in her position that company directors would sign blank cheques, which she then made payable to herself.

Discrepancies were not noted until July last year when Ellis was on holiday and a colleague had to check the accounts.

Whilst on the computer she noticed an invoice, for a relatively small amount, had been falsified. Ellis was suspended and the scale of her crimes emerged.

John Bull, prosecuting, told the court that it was soon ascertained “a significant amount of money had been stolen by the defendant using this process of falsifying accounts”.

Ellis admitted everything to police.

Sentencing her to two years imprisonment, Recorder Benjamin Nolan QC said: “In essence these are straightforward thefts from you employer, but thefts over a period of six years of a huge amount of money.

“The management of the money was all entrusted to you. The fact the directors signed blank cheques is an indication to how much they trusted you.”

Christopher Tehrani, mitigating, said when the crimes started Ellis owed about £17,000 in credit cards and bank loans.

He said: “She panicked about her financial status and took some money to keep the wolf from the door and it spiralled from there.”

He added she was attempting to pay back some of the money by selling her family home.

The prosecution made an application for a proceeds of crime order to recover stolen assets.