A gambling addict mum who had already blown her inheritance created fake invoices to steal more than £21,000 from her employer. Maxine Parkes was working for Trentham-based KDM Events as a finance and staffing manager when she started her fraud.
Another manager noticed a discrepancy with the invoices and confronted the 47-year-old mother of two teenagers. An investigation then revealed the extent of her crimes.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Parkes had frittered the money away on gambling. She had previously stolen £44,000 from a previous job as a bookkeeper. Now the defendant, of Uttoxeter Road, Lower Tean, has now been sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Prosecutor Neil Ahuja said the fraud was carried out between October 14, 2021 and February 16, 2022. He said: “The defendant was employed at KDM Events between December 2019 and February 2022 as a finance and staffing manager. On February 14, 2022, management at the company noticed a new invoice that had already been paid. They noticed the invoice had been created fraudulently with account wages being paid into the defendant’s account.
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“She was confronted on February 15, with the manager initially maintaining that it had only happened once. Upon investigation, they noticed further fraudulent invoices had been used to pay into the account. She sent an email apologising, promising that she would pay it. In an interview, she admitted to producing fake invoices and paying sums of money into her own account.
“She spent all her money on gambling. She had previously worked as a bookkeeper where she fraudulently adjusted cheques. She obtained £44,000 through this.”
Parkes pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. Jason Holt, mitigating, said: “In 2019 Ms Parkes lost her father at the age of 59. He had been ill for some time. Three months later she went to her mother’s house to find she had taken her own life. This had a profound impact.
“When combined with the 2020 Covid lockdown, she was under stress. The gambling sites were where a significant number of the money was going.
“She had assistance from Healthy Minds. Her belief was that groups like Gamblers Anonymous were male-dominated and thought going into a group of men was too intimidating. She suffers from social anxiety.”
Mr Holt added that his client has two children aged 16 and 14. He said: “She is confident she can still gain employment.”
Sentencing Parkes to 20 months in prison, Judge Paul Glenn said: “You are 47 years old. Your previous convictions are highly relevant. You had nine counts of deception where you served a 16-month prison sentence. It is a significant aggravating factor in this recent case.
“This was a gross breach of trust. You took advantage of your position to defraud the company of £21,754.54. You tried to persuade your managers that you could repay, a hopelessly unrealistic aim. You stole sums on a regular basis with large credits.
“You gambled away your inheritance. You claim you are ashamed and remorseful. You were making some repayment in the county court but it would have been many years before that would have been repaid.
“There has been no impact statement from the company but taking more than £21,000 is not easy to bear in this climate.
“I am afraid I cannot hand you a suspended sentence as it is so serious, in particular as it seems like history is repeating itself. I am sentencing you to 20 months in prison. You will spend no more than half of this in custody before being released on licence. The surcharge applies.”
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