Woman stole £360,000 from charity - and went shopping

“All the chat about audits; the audits were audited ! So, how rubbish must both sets have been? Sam is a very intelligent and clever mathematician; excelling at her role and clearly excelling at syphoning off continual funds.

Many factors lead to a psychological pattern of theft such as this; the successful pinching of small sums, never challenged, leading to larger sums, until finally, complacency is prevalent and no caution practised.

Sam was a lovely, lovely person. I don't care how much stick I get for saying it. One could say she had massive insecurities. Two long-term, failed relationships, which as a rule, one would recover from and grow, crucified her. Her reaction was to turn to food/drink and drugs. Once locked in that ever spiralling pattern, the only sure thing was discovery and doom. One might say, depressed and alone, she didn't care and an unchallenged habit, soon became a daily lifestyle, hard to escape from unaided. She became adept at living the lie.

Every one one of you that accepted the drinks and drugs and you know who you are, has to battle with their conscience. Whether you believed it to be her salary funding the countless social events, or company funds, you still rinsed her and enjoyed it! I watched you, time and time again !

Falling prey to temptation is so stupid, but when you're not in a place to climb out from under the black cloud and incessant ridicule, it becomes your comfort and habitual, additional high.

I am broken hearted to read all this stuff. I can't change things, or make it right, because it was sooooooooooo wrong, but the reasons behind it are valid. One could say, psychological imbalance/illness.

Anyway, it's done. She's being punished. She acknowledges her mistakes. I dearly hope she gets her head round all this and gets the help she needs, where she is.

Controversially, although no consideration was given to the the charity, the young it helps, colleagues, nor her children she could be leaving behind with a prison sentence, if caught, I sense jealousy. All of you were greedy; Sam ridiculously so.

Sam was no bully. She was a lot of things, but no bully. You all had a choice whether you clung like leaches and rinsed her, or left. You stayed. Be it on your heads, too.”

“I CLEARLY SHAKE THAT WOMANS HAND AS SHE IS RAW PROOF THAT PEOPLE WALK THE STREETS AND SLEEP RUFF ON ACCOUNT THERE IS NO MONEY IN THE POT, AS IT IS HARD ENOUGH TO GET A DEPOSIT FROM THE HOMELESS CHARITY WHEN U R DOWN ON YOUR LUCK,IT IS THAT HARD TO GET A BED AND BREAKFAST OR DEPOSIT OR THE FIRST MONTHS RENT TO SAVE U FROM THE BITTER COLD OF THE STREETS I SHAKE HER HAND AGAIN AS PEOPLE ARE HOMELESS FOR MANY YEARS ON THE ACCOUNT OF NO MONEY,BUT SHE HAS PROVEN IT WAS THAT EASY TO GET A ROOF ABOVE THERE HEADS,ALL IT TOOK WAS FOR HER TO WRITE A CHEQUE,QUESTION THE CHARITY HOLDING OUT ON THE FINANCES,IF IT WAS THAT EASY FOR HER HOW COME IT WAS NOT THAT EASY FOR THE HOMELESS TO GET AXCESS TO THE FUNDS I SHAKE HER HAND AGAIN”

“Strange that year-end audits etc did not pick up this a lot earlier. Most organisations have external auditors/accountants to check the books. This organisation & it's Board both pre & post merger has some very serious questions to answer on policies, procedures etc. including a whistle-blower policy (ideally run by an external provider). Some resignations by senior staff and Board members may be in order so that the organisation can re-build trust from the ground up as it is going to be very difficult to move forward otherwise.

Also having worked in this sector for some years and for similar organisations I am certain people would have had an inkling if not actual proof and suspicions would have been discussed on the QT and this should have triggered suspension and an investigation. Unfortunalty many prganisations are reluctant to listen to less senior employees.

Also I think the majority of their funding is likely to have come from central and local government in the form of grants etc. so those who award such funding need to ensure that recipients are fully audited and that policies are are robust as they can be. After all it is the tax payer who coughs up.

I do of course recognise that there will always be thieves but effective policies and procedures can go a long way towards identifying fraud and mitigating losses.”

“@truthhurts - "Anyone who worked for this organisation at that time needs to accept the part they played" - does this also apply to the people who were made redundant because of her theft?
For you too imply that employees were in anyway collusive because they were taken out for the occasional after work drink is a ridiculous insult to many caring and professional youth support workers who had absolutely no knowledge and nothing to do with her fraud. Your comments here are highly inappropriate... and no I was never an employee.
For others reading these comments... her intimidation, bullying & odd behavior was reported on many occasions to senior management who clearly did nothing about it for far too long.

So Truthhurts...if your looking for scapegoats 'look up' not down through your nose???”

“she spent the money on crack....the rest she just wasted”

“I dont remember people calling her a bully or a low life when they were busy enjoying the "free drinks" at all the work parties everyone knew then that the money would come from the organisation but didn't stop them having that last bottle of wine??? Anyone who worked for this organisation at that time needs to accept the part they played everyone was partly to blame and even those who didn't share in the drinking didn't expose what was going on when they could have.”

“She was an unpleasant low life bully and fully deserved what she got and probably more... and by the way she was the Finance Director! She was doing it for many years and bullied or coerced anyone who might reveal her wrongdoings - except those who were 'on the take' with her of course and I reckon they know who they are (& so does SoftCentre by the sound of it). I think the most important question to ask is why did it take so long to bring her to justice?”

“Headline should read:


"Judge Carol Hagen in prison sentence shocker"”

“@pottledeeptok

This is The Post comment section - the modern equvalent of the stocks.

PS You may want to look up the definition of "irony"”

“Winford posts this;
"Lets hope that the courts take every penny she has and her house as well if she has one. Thief."

and unbelievably at least 3 people red arrow it.
Any of you wish to tell us all why she should not have to sell her house to repay what she has stolen?”