Donna Pope, 47, of Liverpool Road, Bickerstaffe, has been jailed for 38 months after stealing £50,000 from her terminally ill employer. She used a company credit card for personal expenses over two years while boss Eddie Tucker, 57, was undergoing treatment for stage 4 cancer.
Pope pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position at Preston Crown Court on Thursday, July 30. She was employed as a bookkeeper at Ultimatum Group Ltd., a large-format printing firm in Burscough, and was later promoted to accounts manager by Mr Tucker, who trusted her to handle finances.
Sustained fraud during boss's illness
When Mr Tucker took sick leave after his cancer diagnosis, Pope began using the company card for personal spending. Prosecutor Claire Larton said the transaction list was 170 pages long and included payments described as “very obviously fraudulent.” These included flights with easyJet and Jet2, Malaga hotels, a dog groomer, subscriptions to Hello Fresh and Amazon Prime, takeaways, Ubers, B&Q deliveries such as a CCTV system and taps, and £1,000 on radiators. She spent over £2,000 on easyJet flights alone.
When confronted, Pope claimed the payments were errors due to her PayPal account settings. She initially denied dishonesty at Preston Magistrates’ Court and entered a not guilty plea, but changed it to guilty a day before trial.
Impact on victim and sentencing
Sentencing, Ms Recorder Siddiqi said there had been “excuse after excuse by the defendant” and that the PayPal explanation “makes no sense at all because of the larger sums involved. I am sentencing today not on the basis of a mistake; this is fraud.” The judge noted that Mr Tucker was vulnerable due to his health and that Pope abused her position of trust over a sustained period.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Tucker said Pope’s actions caused “irreparable harm to his life, family and business.” The court heard that his companies were liquidated and his home is under threat of repossession. Mr Tucker had surgery, chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Pope later said she was unaware of the specific diagnosis until police told her, but knew he was “poorly.”
Mitigation and sentence
Defence lawyer Richard Orme said Pope had minimised her actions but later expressed remorse in a letter. Mitigating factors included her father’s advanced prostate cancer (prognosis 12 months) and caring for her 22-year-old son with ADHD. The judge took these into account but deemed the offence so serious that only custody was justified. Pope was sentenced to 38 months, serving up to half in prison and the remainder on licence. Confiscation proceedings are set for January 18.
