Mum jailed for fraud

High-flyer swindled £13,000
A DISGRUNTLED high-flyer who tried to steal more than £13,000 from an employment agency has been jailed for six months.

Mother-of-one Sarah Syed, of Mortimer Street, Higginshaw Village, claimed she had been head-hunted to join the Jark Industrial employment agency in Huddersfield in November, 2008.

But Syed (32) resigned four months later because she felt dissatisfied with her working conditions.

Syed was recruited on a wage of £25,000 with the prospect of her salary rising to £30,000 after six months.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Syed tendered her resignation by email, but three days later, in February, 2008, she went into the company’s office early in the morning and took a number of cheques.

Prosecutor Dave Mackay said two cheques totalling almost £6,000 were paid into the account of Syed’s daughter on the same day. A further cheque for just over £3,300 was paid in four days later and Syed presented another cheque for £4,200 later that month.

Syed was arrested over the cheques in April, 2008, and claimed that the company had not been paying her properly and she was owed money in bonuses.

The court heard that in July, last year, a warrant was issued for Syed’s arrest, but she was not traced until July, this year.

Last month Syed admitted four charges of fraud relating to the cheques on which she had forged the signature of another employee.

The total amount of cheques written out was £13,421.

Judge Rose said: “The damage caused to employers by people like you is something that you clearly did not consider.”