Letting agent given 28 months in jail over huge fraud
Wendy Dare stole in excess of £134,000 from her employer and, despite admitting the charges and returning some of the money, is to spend time in prison.
An estate agent in Chester has been sentenced to 28 months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of fraud, it is reported.
Wendy Dare (pictured), 57, had admitted the frauds at an earlier hearing in March which included siphoning off approximately £138,000 of her employer’s funds to nine bank accounts belonging to Dare and her family including her daughter.
Local media reports that Dare, of Southport Road Lancashire, abused her position of trust at the agency which gave her access to the company’s accounts.
Her crimes, which saw her work as a letting manager at the firm, took place over a five-year period. The level of her fraud was uncovered when in June 2021 a £23,000 payment to a landlords could not be accounted for.
An internal investigation, and a subsequently police probe uncovered the scale of her activities.
On being discovered, the court heard that Dare had repaid £32,681 of the stolen cash but that £106,059 remained outstanding – although a more forensic examination discovered further funds she had redirected to her own accounts and a confiscation order was initiated.
She now has three months to repay £122,922 to her former employee or face a longer sentence.
“It highlights the importance of asset recovery considerations running throughout an investigation, to maximise the opportunities to recover significant sums derived from criminality in an effort to compensate victims of crime,” Accredited Financial Investigator Jane Carruthers told CheshireLive.
The case is similar to that of Ryan Freeman, 25, who last year was jailed for stealing more than £195,000 from her firm and then blew it all on gambling.
