Administrator who stole from Leeds City College must pay back £62,000

AN administrator who is serving a jail sentence for defrauding Leeds City College out of almost half a million pounds has been ordered to pay back £62,000 of her ill-gotten gains.
Julia HoggJulia Hogg
Julia Hogg

Julia Hogg was sentenced to three years, eight months earlier this year after a court heard how she was in charge of distributing money to students who needed to pay for childcare but instead diverted huge sums into her own bank accounts.

Hogg used the money to fund a lifestyle of luxury holidays and designer clothes.

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She also lavished cash on her partner, relatives and friends during the six-year deception, claiming she had inherited a large sum of money.

Hogg appeared before Leeds Crown Court today via a video link from prison to face a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Robert Galley, prosecuting, said Hogg had benefited by £479,370 as a result of her offending but had just £62,463 of assets available.

Mr Galley said the sum was made up of the sale of her home on Field Lane, Thorpe Willoughby, near Selby, and a ring.

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Judge Rodney Jameson, QC, ordered Hogg to pay the sum within three months or face a further period in custody.

The judge also ordered the amount to be paid to the college as compensation.

Hogg was arrested in 2015 after the college carried out an audit and claimed she had she had taken the money in order to “buy friends” .

At the sentencing hearing in March, the court was told how students were deprived of vital support and the college may have lost students who due to them missing out on financial help.

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Hogg began working at the college in 2009 and had a salary of £14,800.

She was in charge of overseeing Government-funded payments to childcare providers in order to allow students to attend the college.

Robert Galley, prosecuting, said Hogg diverted large sums into her own bank account.

At the height of her offending she stole £141, 000 in a single year.

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Hogg was dismissed in October after her offending came to light.

Mr Galley said: “She made full admissions saying that she spent the money buying items for her partner, holidays and she deceived relatives in to thinking that she had received a large inheritance.

“She had spent money on other people’s children, said that she was depressed and would try to buy friends.”

The court heard Hogg stole at least £479,379. The actual figure is likely to be higher but computer records of her first two years of the offending could not be obtained.

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Leeds City College have had to put new accounting systems in place as a result of the offending.

Hogg pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and false accounting.

Kara Frith, mitigating, said Hogg had pleaded guilty to the offending at an early stage.

She said Hogg was ashamed of what she had done and was shocked when she was made aware of the extent of her offending.

She said: “Payments increased and it was motivated part by greed and part by a desire to be liked by others.”

Jailing Hogg, judge Peter Benson said: “You squandered this money on high living.”