A London PA used her company’s credit card to spend over £250,000, including a £17,000 shopping spree at budget store Costco.
Jean Tugwete, 41, falsified statements to hide spending on flights, a £9,000 convertible Peugeot 307 and televisions.
She also spent £16,000 at House of Fraser, £17,000 at Costco and £4,500 on a corner sofa at DFS.
After her colleagues became suspicious, she was arrested at Heathrow airport as she returned from a family trip to Kenya.
Detectives from the City of London Police Fraud Squad found Tugwete, from Colchester, had been using company’s credit card for three years, defrauding them of £264,274 between April 2012 and last February, while based at their London HQ.
Police discovered Tugwete had been amending the statements, disguising the transactions as plausible business expenses on things like hotel stays, train fares or conference facilities.
She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison at the Old Bailey on Friday after admitting fraud by false representation and false accounting.
Detective Sergeant Simon Russen, from the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad said: “Tugwete completely abused her position of trust within the company for her personal gain.
“She thought that she could get away with stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds, but she was caught and now she faces a lengthy time behind bars for what she has done.”
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