'Trusted' finance manager admitted swindling £67,000 from Leeds recruitment firm
A finance manager fleeced the company she worked for, stealing more than £67,000 through an accounts swindle.
Kirstie Anderson spent three years siphoning funds to her own account, having been a trusted employee at Example Recruitment in Leeds.
She was spared an immediate custodial sentence at Leeds Crown Court and was given a suspended sentence instead.
Prosecutor Oishee Dey said Anderson began working for the company in 2014 and was employed as a payroll and finance manager. She was also in charge of human resources.
Ms Dey said she was a “trusted senior member of staff”.
But in 2023 the company owner was contacted by the bank over a number of suspicious payments made to Anderson.
The owner said he knew she had been struggling after going through a divorce, so wanted to give her the chance to repay the money and she could continue on her role.
But delving deeper into the finances, it was soon found that she had been stealing from July 2020.
The total amount taken that she was not entitled to came to £67,687.
She was suspended from the firm pending a full investigation. She twice failed to attend a disciplinary hearing so was fired in September 2023.
The 39-year-old was arrested in June last year and gave a no-comment interview to police.
Anderson, of Bent Lea, Huddersfield, has no previous convictions. She admitted theft from employer.
Mitigating, Anastasis Tasou said Anderson’s financial situation “spiralled downwards” and that she amassed debts.
He said she was also a carer for her mother.
The judge, Recorder Mark McKone KC gave Anderson a 16-month sentence, suspended for 24 months.
He also gave her a electronically-tagged curfew order for nine months, gave her 250 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation days with probation.