A trusted employee who stole £370,000 from her company has avoided jail because she is pregnant. Danielle Longstaffe defrauded her firm out of six-figure sums because she was being chased by loan sharks. A court heard how the scheming worker transferred £218,000 to herself and others and also hired vehicles using the company's supplier. She worked for Kaefer Ltd, a transport administrator in Jarrow, and had been employed there since 2012.
A boss at the company identified between £80,000 and £90,000 had vanished between April and May 2022, which led to Longstaffe coming under suspicion. At Newcastle Crown Court 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. Longstaffe had been transferring money from her employer's account to herself and friends and family using false details to try to cover her tracks. The court heard how she also forged the signature of a transport manager. When she was challenged on the disappearing finances she confessed to her employer how much money she had stolen where it had gone. In total, there were £218,000 of unauthorised banking transactions. There was also further fraudulent activity in relation unauthorised vehicle hire, using a supplier the company used. That resulted in 33 vehicles being missing. The total value of the cars and repairs was £141,000. There was also more than £10,000 of unauthorised use of a company credit card. The total value of the fraud was £370,194. The company said there were also outstanding Tyne Tunnel and parking charges worth £19,000. Longstaffe, 32, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position between September 1, 2021, and May 13, 2022. She was sentenced to two years suspended for two years with a mental health treatment requirement