Category Archives: News

The Shropshire Star reports that an accounts assistant employed by a dairy charity has been jailed for stealing over £300,000 in 19 fraudulent transactions.

A court heard that Richard Dicken blamed a gambling addiction and mental health problems for his actions.

The Daily Echo reports that traders in Poole are forming new groups to take on thieves, as the town finds itself in the grip of a shoplifting epidemic.

Business owners say thieves are treating their offending as a “nine-to-five job” and, in the new year, a series of organisations uniting police, independent businesses and major retailers will launch in Dorset in a bid to tackle crime.

Metro reports that a branch of Asda in Leek, Staffordshire, has banned three years of pupils from a local secondary school from the store, after a spate of shoplifting by a small number of its students.

Pupils in years 9, 10 and 11 at Leek High School will be affected by the ban.

BBC News reports that a finance worker who stole more than £130,000 from her employer has had her assets confiscated.

Claire Johnston – who was diagnosed with “compulsive buying disorder” – had spent the money on luxury holidays and designer shoes.

The Halifax Courier reports that a former employee of Lloyds Banking Group convicted of fraud has been ordered to repay more than £30,000.

Mohammed Navid Ramzan was found to have assets totalling £33,911.77, which must be repaid in full within three months or he will be jailed for a year.

The Eastern Daily Press reports that Steve Girling pleaded guilty to taking £1m over just three years from the company he worked for as chief finance officer.

From March 2014 to October 2017 he transferred cash from the firm’s accounts to his own – and blew it all on online slot machines, spending up to £18,000 a night.