Two women who worked in admin roles at South West estate agency Miller Countrywide have avoided jail after collectively defrauding the company of £70,000 over two years.

Tanya Roberts, 51, and Susan Garratt, 43, both admitted to the fraudulent activity at Truro Crown Court hearing on Friday.

The court heard that Roberts had joined the Countrywide firm in 2009 where she worked at the firm’s Cambourne branch in Cornwall in an admin role which included authorising payment to contractors.

She subsequently began to create false invoices each week for £450 on behalf of her son’s building firm and then asked him to pass on the payments to her over an 18-month period, an internal investigation by Miller Countrywide discovered.

False mileage

Garrett had joined the estate agency branch in 2003 and was found to have made false mileage expense claims, as did Roberts, even though neither of the women were required to drive significant distances in their roles.

Roberts fraudulently claimed £33,750 through the invoices, and a further £31,782 in false mileage claims. Garratt claimed a further £7,775 in fake mileage.

Prosecuting lawyer Ed Bailey told the court that both defendants then resigned from Miller before the internal investigation was completed, and it wasn’t until April 2019 that the matter was referred to police, local media report.

Although Roberts had been before the court before after stealing money from a previous employer, she and Roberts were given suspended sentences.
Roberts was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.

Garratt was jailed for 22 months, suspended for two years, and told to perform 200 hours of unpaid work.

Read more about fraud cases.