Bogus Accountant Swindled £64,000 Destined For The Taxman

Vicky: A Payne To Her Employers

A bogus accountant, who fooled her PR firm employers into believing she was fully qualified while paying the company's £64,000 tax bill into her own account during a five-year fraud, received a suspended prison sentence yesterday.

Mother-of-two Vicky Payne, 40, of The Lodge, Station Road, Charlton Mackrell, Somerton claims a disastrous relationship “financially crippled” her.

The charges relate to Hammersmith-based M-PR Consulting of 13 Oxford Gate, Brook Green and its managing director Marc Prema-Ratner and account director Michael Mervyn-Jones.

Payne pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation between August 31, 2009 and May 7, last year in that she lied to both bosses she had paid the company's tax liability and said she was a fully-qualified accountant and member of the Association of Accounting Technicians.

Prosecutor Mr. Don rogers told Isleworth Crown Court the total loss was £64,512.26p, of which Payne has repaid £2,000.

“An investigation by the Specialist Economic Crime Unit confirms she has no assets apart from a very old VW vehicle and there will be no Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings.

“It was a double fraud because she was posing as a trained accountant and while in that position diverted money that was due to HMRC.

“It caused great concern and the hiring of other accountants to speak on their behalf. It caused a lot of difficulty apart from the financial loss.

'The very person trusted to keep the company's tax affairs in order turned around and destroyed it.”

After the sentencing Mr. Mervyn-Jones said: “I am surprised that someone can get away with the theft of sixty-four thousand pounds.”

Payne's lawyer Miss Emma Fenn said: 'Mrs Payne knows what she has done is wrong and is incredibly remorseful. She attended the police station voluntarily and made admissions and said she wanted to put things right.”

The court heard Payne has an 18 year-old son and a 16 year-old daughter, who has hyper-mobility disorder, an eating disorder and self-harms. She also supports her mother and her current “vulnerable” partner.

“She herself suffers from a number of medical conditions and she is clearly not going to be allowed to work in the accounting industry again,” added Miss Fenn. “She says she was stuck in a vortex after a relationship financially crippled her.

“She wants to repay the money, however long it takes.”

Judge Andrew McDowall sentenced Payne to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered her to perform 250 hours community service work and a £100 victim surcharge.

The judge made no financial order for compensation or confiscation, announcing: “I don't want her to be put in a position where she is juggling debt or going to Wonga.

“This is a serious type of offending, a breach of trust and putting people in a position of owing money to HMRC and they only have prospects of small amount dribbling back over a period of time.

“If it was just you, you would be heading off to Holloway,” Judge McDowall told the first-time offender. “Because others in your family would be effected it will be suspended.

“It is regrettable you got yourself into the mess you did and have only just avoided a custodial sentence. Your employment prospects are hampered for ever and day.”