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Chester estate agent worker caught siphoning thousands into her own bank accounts
A woman working at a Chester-based estate agents had been siphoning thousands of pounds into her own bank accounts over a period of several years. Wendy Dare, 57, of Southport Road, Lancashire, abused her position to move approximately £138,000 worth of company funds to bank accounts managed by her.
Dare pleaded guilty to three counts of Fraud by Abuse of Position at a previous hearing on Monday, March 20, 2023 and was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment.
During her hearing, the court heard that between May 2015 and December 2020, Dare had been working as a Lettings Manager at a Chester-based estate agents. As part of her role, she had access to the company’s accounts.
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In June of 2021, the estate agents were informed of an issue in which a payment of around £23,000 designated to one of their landlord clients could not be accounted for.
An internal investigation into the disappearance of the finances was launched, with it being discovered that Dare had been repeatedly accessing the company accounts and transferring funds to accounts set up in the names of herself, her husband and their daughter.
Building upon the evidence provided by the letting agents, a further investigation into the financial records of Wendy Dare was launched by Chester CID.
Headed by DC Andy Manson and DC Georgia Hughes, the investigating officers analyzed Dare’s bank accounts which revealed the following:
Four accounts in the name of Wendy Dare and five in the name of her husband had been set up and a significant amount of cash had been distributed between these accounts.
37 transactions that exceeded £47,000 had been paid into accounts that belonged to fake landlords – accounts that had been set up by Dare
The total loss as a result of the fraudulent transactions totalled £138,741.10. However, between 29.02.16 and 25.11.20, Dare managed to pay back £32,681.85 to the letting agent leaving approximately £106,059.25 outstanding.
As a result of the investigation into her finances, Wendy Dare was charged with three counts of Fraud by Abuse of Position.
However that was not the end of the case, following her sentencing, and an extensive review of her finances by Accredited Financial Investigator (AFI) Jane Carruthers, Dare returned to court on Monday 12 June following where she was ordered to repay £122,922.68 to her former employer.
She has three months to pay the order or she will face a further custodial sentence, while still being liable to pay the order.
Accredited Financial Investigator Jane Carruthers, of the Economic Crime Unit, said: “Wendy Dare’s confiscation order sends a strong message that Cheshire Police takes the recovery of the proceeds of crime and loss to victims very seriously.
“It highlights the importance of asset recovery considerations running throughout an investigation, to maximise the opportunities to recover significant sums derived from criminality in an effort to compensate victims of crime.
“This sentencing and the subsequent confiscation order that has followed is testament to the hard work of DC Andy Manson and DC Georgia Hughes. Their tenacious and diligent approach to the investigation left no stone unturned in the pursuit of recovering this substantial amount of stolen funds.”
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