Trusted worker who fleeced employer out of £370,000 walks free because she's pregnant

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A trusted employee who fleeced her company out of £370,000 has avoided jail because she's pregnant. Danielle Longstaffe said she defrauded the firm out of enormous sums because she was being chased by loan sharks.

A court heard she transferred £218,000 to herself and others and also hired vehicles using the company's supplier, ChronicleLive reports.

A judge said he had to have regard to Longstaffe's unborn child while sentencing her and she avoided the prospect of having to give birth in prison when she got a suspended sentence.

She worked for Kaefer Ltd, in Jarrow, in Tyne and Wear as a transport administrator and had been employed there since 2012. A boss at the company identified that between £80,000 and £90,000 had gone missing between April and May 2022 and Longstaffe came under suspicion.