Hertfordshire church treasurer has been jailed for stealing £24,000 from the parish’s collection money and about £125,500 from her employer.
52-year-old Alison Brake stole the church’s collection money while serving as the treasurer of Radwell All Saints Church in Hertfordshire.
Blake who has been the sole signatory on the Parochial Church Council (PCC) account since 2013 also used her position to transfer stolen money from Hertforshire-based Kier Fleet Service, where she worked as assistant finance manager.
During her sentencing by St Albans Crown Court on Friday, August 4, the court heard that she transferred the stolen money into her account and used the money for “retail therapy” to counter her depression and perimenopause.
She opened an internet account for her village church with only ten regular parishioners. The internet account collects about £3,500 per year until 2018 when she paid 147 fraudulent cheques from Kier Fleet Services, arising in a sum of £125,531.05.
The amount on the fraudulent cheques according to the court varied between £200 and £2,000. After cashing in the cheques, Blake then transferred the money to her account and spent it on shopping sites such as Amazon, Estée Lauder.
The prosecutor said Blake had rejected the effort to add a second signatory to the church account after she resigned from PCC in 2019. She made false claims to the PCC members that Lloyds was charging them for the account when persuading them to switch the account from Lloyds Bank to NatWest.
She pleaded guilty to counts of fraud by abuse of position and she has sent a letter of apology to the church, kier, and the court. The court however sentenced her to 28 months in jail.
Defending counsel Natalie Turner said: “Ms. Blake had paid back the church and offered to repay Kier.
“She had previously been in two abusive relationships and had turned to retail therapy as a coping mechanism.
“She had been going through perimenopause and had felt under huge pressure, having experienced bullying at work.”