Her £65k salary wasn't enough to fund her cocaine and gambling habits

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A woman plundered nearly £63,000 from her employer to fund her gambling and cocaine addictions. Laura Barnard dipped into the company's accounts over the course of year - between August 2021 and August 2022 - while working at Thinkmoney as a senior project manager.

She developed a good relationship with her employer, the court heard. They were 'like family', her barrister claimed. Barnard, of Littler Avenue, Chorlton, previously worked as a project manager before she was promoted to a more senior role with a salary of £65,000.

The 39-year-old was authorised to carry out test transactions - of small sums - to her accounts to make sure new systems were working correctly.

She was expected to return the money. She began exploiting the process, disguising illicit transfers to her accounts as 'goodwill payments'.