Ely Mother Who Stole From Business Jailed

A mother who together with her daughter stole around £100,000 from a Cambridgeshire business has been jailed for more than three years.

Nicola Hayter, of Carey Close, in Ely, worked as a bookkeeper for construction company Retrofit UK from 2009 to 2016.

The 52-year-old and her daughter used a company credit card to fund Legoland rides, vets bills, a private car number plate and house cleaners.

In January 2016 the company held a suspension meeting with Hayter because she’d taken a loan from them and had asked for £600 but then taken a further £3,000. 

Hayter had also used the company’s trade account to purchase personal items, Cambridge Crown Court heard.

Hayter had spent large amounts on the company credit card each month but had been paying the bills off at the end of the month to avoid being caught.

For a period of time, Hayter’s daughter Emily Griffiths, 26, of Capper Road, Waterbeach, had also worked for Retrofit.

Investigations revealed Hayter had overpaid her daughter’s wages and transferred Griffiths even more money from the company’s bank account when she was no longer working there.

Hayter had also used the company’s bank account to pay for Griffiths’s house to be cleaned.

In police interview, Hayter admitted spending some money on the company’s card but suggested others also used it.

She admitted transferring Griffiths £8,500 to ‘help her out’ but said she was going to pay it back.

When Griffiths was interviewed, she admitted also using the company card at Legoland as well as for car repairs and new tyres.

However, she claimed Hayter had the authority to let other people use it.  

Both Hayter and Griffiths stood trial at Cambridge Crown Court in January. Hayter pleaded guilty to theft while the trial was ongoing and jurors later found Griffiths guilty of possessing criminal property.