A city PA, has been convicted for stealing thousands of pounds to fund her elaborate wedding and luxurious honeymoon.
Gabrielle Yinka Saunders had only been working for Inside Investment for two days when she decided to use her colleagues’ company credit card to pay for her £10,000 wedding at Belair House in Dulwich as well as £5000 for her first class honeymoon to Dubai and then the Seychelles.
She was arrested at Heathrow airport after arriving home from her company-funded honeymoon and was subsequently charged with fraud. This is not the first time Saunders, who came to the UK from Nigeria to study law, has stolen money from a company she works for. In 2007, after graduating from the University of Southampton and landing a tax accountant position at PriceWaterhouseCooper she was jailed for stealing £34,000 from the company by filing fake expense claims. In 2011, she was convicted again for fraud after stealing her neighbour’s credit card.
She then, remarkably, managed to get the £40,000 a year PA job at Inside Investment. In addition to funding her wedding, the stolen money was also used to buy flowers, clothes and a mobile phone.
“She paid for a prestige wedding venue, she paid for the flowers, she paid for her honeymoon outfit and clothing,” prosecutor Prosecutor Roger Daniells-Smith said.
“She paid for phone calls to make these arrangements and she paid for the gift of a watch. She paid for the honeymoon which was a first-class trip to Dubai and then on to the Seychelles.
“They were arrested at Heathrow when they returned to the UK and she made no comment in interview, but it was clear from the evidence that she was solely responsible for these frauds.”
Saunders was found guilty of seven counts of fraud to the amount of nearly £17,000. She was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment suspended for 2 years, as well as 200 hours community service. She was spared jail as the judge, Stephen Guillick, discovered that she had paid back the money.
“You have a singularly unimpressive record and you have already served a prison sentence some time ago,” he said.
“You did not disclose your previous dishonesty to your employers, who were prepared to take you on as an administrative assistant on a good salary.
“The fact is, within days you were prepared to take advantage. You effectively defrauded others to the tune of £17,000, all of which has been paid back. That money was used to finance your wedding and the subsequent honeymoon.
“You have now started working in a completely different environment. I hope they will never place you in a position of trust with anything to do with money.
“These were serious offences but it appears you are turning your life around. If you continue to commit offences of this dishonest nature, you will eventually receive a very long sentence of imprisonment indeed.”
Saunders is now training to become a teacher.
