Two days after her 46th birthday, Tracy Carr walked away from Newry Crown Court after Judge Gordon Kerr KC suspended her 16-month prison sentence for two years.

Judge Kerr told the fraudster that while she had tried to cover her tracks, she had committed the frauds over an extended period and breached the trust placed in her.

But he added she had also admitted her crimes, had a clear record and had paid all of the money back.

Carr, from Tullymore Downs in Armagh, had earlier entered a guilty plea to a single charge of fraud by abuse of position between May 2021 and September 2022.

She abused her position of trust within Glenvale Waste Ltd to access company accounts and transfer a total of £62,678 to herself.

Judge Kerr said Carr had been an accounts administrator in the company.

But the company accountant noticed “a large number of postings on the company pension scheme”.

The judge said Carr, a few weeks later, “admitted that she had been taking money from company funds because of her gambling addiction”.

While she initially suggested she had taken approximately £30,000, an audit revealed that she had transferred £62,678.

Interviewed about it, Carr “made full admissions and accepted the full amount”.

Judge Kerr described how Carr had tried to “disguise the offences by attributing her bank account details with the company pension fund so that all payments she made to her own account appeared to be legitimate transactions”.

There had been a total of 142 fraudulent transactions, said the judge, revealing that, despite being the victim, a company director had written a letter to the court indicting that, “while mindful of the serious actions of the defendant, we have no desire to see her go to prison”.

“It is clear that this was not an easy fraud,” said Judge Kerr.

“It was committed by someone who knew the accounts and manipulated them so that they were to her advantage.”

Judge Kerr said while it was absolutely clear that the custody threshold had been crossed given the nature of the offences and the aggravating features, it was also clear there were mitigating features including “genuine remorse” and restitution.

“Just because someone is of good character and just because an injured party has expressed no desire to see someone go to jail, that doesn’t meant that the court will automatically suspend the sentence,” said Judge Kerr.

Taking all matters into account regarding Carr, Judge Kerr said he felt justified in suspending her jail sentence.