Mum who stole over £70k from employers faces six months in jail

The 41-year old mother-of-one appeared at Downpatrick Crown Court via a videolink with her solicitor's office.

From Frances Street in Newtownards, McCullough's sentence was split between six months in custody and 12 months on licence by Judge Neil Rafferty QC.

Judge Rafferty ordered McCullough to surrender herself to Laganside Courts on Friday morning so she can begin her six-month stint behind bars.

McCullough — who has a history of stealing from her employers — was arrested after the company's financial director became aware in May 2020 of a series of cheques he didn't recognise.

It emerged these cheques had been paid into McCullough's bank account — who at the time was working in Rich Sauces's accounts department.

She was spoken to by the financial director and admitted forging a number of cheques.

McCullough was dismissed from her job, and when the company investigated the matter further, the full scale of her criminality came to light.

In total, McCullough made 146 fraudulent transactions which amounted to a total of £71,694.34.

The company informed the PSNI, and when she was arrested McCullough admitted taking the money, claiming she did it to assist her brother who was under paramilitary threat due to gambling and other debts.

McCullough subsequently pleaded guilty to defrauding Rich Sauces by abuse of position between January 2019 and May 2020, as well as charges of forgery and using a false instrument with intent.

Her barrister Patrick Taylor said that whilst McCullough's initial motivation was to help her brother, "she began to enjoy the trappings this additional money afforded her."

Mr Taylor urged Judge Rafferty not to impose a custodial sentence on his client arguing this would have a detrimental affect on both McCullough and her nine-year old daughter.

Telling Judge Rafferty the child was "the sole bright spot in her life", Mr Taylor spoke of McCullough's "overwhelming shame, remorse and disgust with herself."

After being informed that childcare provisions had been put in place, Judge Rafferty spoke of McCullough's previous relevant offending.

This included stealing from a former employer whilst working in the company's payroll department in 2009, and theft from another employer in 2012.

Judge Rafferty also noted that whilst working for another firm in September 2020, McCullough tried to transfer money from a client's account into her own account.

He said that after reading reports on McCullough, it appeared she had low self-worth and that shopping and purchasing 'nice things' made her feel better which then led to guilt and further offending.

Citing this as an "offending cycle", Judge Rafferty said that after taking into consideration McCullough's previous offending and the fact she hasn't paid any money back, a custodial sentence was necessary.

He imposed an 18-month sentence and said the longer period on supervised licence was "so she can receive the help she needs with regard to this offending cycle."