Nottinghamshire council worker diverted cash into her own accounts

Sinead Johnson was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday

A woman who took thousands of pounds from council accounts for vulnerable people has been jailed for two years.

Sinead Johnson, who worked for Nottinghamshire County Council's adult social financial services, redirected funds into personal bank accounts for four years.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the 41-year-old, of Ringleas in Cotgrave, had left colleagues "devastated".

She was handed a custodial sentence on Thursday.

The court heard Johnson had been working for the local authority since 2005 and was involved in a department that looked after elderly, disabled and vulnerable people.

People accessing the services were given accounts to receive funds to help them live independently, and if they went into full-time care or died the money was supposed to be returned to the council.

However, Johnson accessed 61 accounts a total of 148 times to move £74,187 into two of her own bank accounts between May 2018 and October 2022.

Almas Ben-Aribia, prosecuting, said all the account users targeted "had either passed away or moved into full-time care".

The fraud was discovered in November 2022 by one of Johnson's colleagues, who noticed money coming out of an account of someone they knew had died.

Ms Ben-Aribia said the defendant admitted taking money in a meeting with her employer, telling them: "I don't know why I did it, I was desperate."

Nottinghamshire County Council said Johnson's colleagues have been "devastated" by the fraud

The court heard she initially refused to comment in police interviews, and a court order was needed to access her accounts.

She pleaded guilty to one count of fraud when appearing before magistrates in February.

Ms Ben-Aribia said the defendant "has abused a position of trust and responsibility", adding: "This offending could have continued undetected for many more years."

In a victim impact statement mentioned in court, the county council said Johnson's colleagues "felt shocked and betrayed by her actions" and it has had "a significant impact" on operations and the "already stretched local government budget".

Lauren Fisher, defending Johnson, said her client "made a catastrophic mistake, and one which she made unfortunately over and over again for a period of time".

Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said the defendant's money problems had influenced her behaviour and led her to "live a lie", but her actions had "betrayed the trust of people you were there to help".

"For four years, 148 times, you stole from a fund that you knew was for people that were a million times worse off than you," he said.

"Your colleagues who had valued you were left devastated by what you had done."

Sue Batty, service director for adult social care at the council, welcomed the sentencing of Johnson, who she said was suspended when the fraud was uncovered and no longer worked for the authority.

"The fact that this fraud was committed by a member of council staff, whose role was to support the people who use our services, is particularly upsetting," she said.

"We have learnt from this incident and improved our systems to avoid it happening again."