Tracey Carr from Armagh stole a total of £62,678 from Glenvale Waste Ltd between May 2021 and September 2022.

Carr, who worked for the company as an accounts administrator, made 142 fraudulent transactions – which she disguised by attributing her bank details to the company’s pension fund.

Over the course of the fraud, she then used the stolen money to fund her gambling addiction.

Following an investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Carr disclosed that she had only taken approximately £30,000. However, this estimate was later doubled following an audit into the company’s accounts.

Judge Kerr said: ‘Carr 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.

‘It is clear that this was not an easy fraud and was committed by someone who knew the accounts and manipulated them so that they were to her advantage.’

Carr admitted that she had taken money from the company funds. In response, a company director from Glenvale Waste wrote to the court and indicated that ‘while mindful of the serious actions of the defendant, we have no desire to see her go to prison’.

Kerr added: ‘Just because someone is of good character and just because an injured party has expressed no desire to see someone go to jail, that does not mean that the court will automatically suspend the sentence.’

Carr was handed a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, on 30 May 2023 at Newry Crown Court.