A HUMAN Resources manager at a children's care provider who diverted nearly £17,000 of staff wages to herself has avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Faye Wherry, 29, had worked for St Helens-based Inspire Children's Services between December 2018 and February last year, where she earned a salary of around £35,000 a year.

Over a six-month period between August 14, 2019 and February 19, 2020 Wherry fraudulently claimed a total of £16,927.81 from her employer.

She also lied to her employer about having surgery when she went off sick while the matter was being investigated, the court heard.

Wherry, of Parkside Avenue, Sutton Manor pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of a position of trust and was given a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.

She was described by judge Thomas Teague CQ as a "thoroughly dishonest woman".

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Derek Jones, prosecuting, told the court that Wherry's job involved "putting down hours that employees had worked and submitting those hours and payroll requests to a separate accountancy firm where the payroll was taken care of".

He said: "There were often back staff on the books who were called upon when needed and for some time, possibly a lengthy period, were still on the books.

"The defendant submitted payroll requests for some workers who hadn't worked there for a while, she put on the forms they had worked 'X amount' of hours.

"Her role was to tell the accountancy firm what the bank account of the workers was, so that money could be paid into the correct account.

"She also sent forms which changed details to her own bank account or that of her partner. This went on for the next six or seven months and she was claiming about £2,000 a month.

"Her partner didn't realise what was going on."

Mr Jones added that Wherry's fraud was uncovered after the accountancy firm "started to smell a rat" over the frequency of the changes made to bank account details.

He said it was "noticed that the bank account details for one of the employees was the same as the former details for the defendant" and that they "put two and two together".

Wherry had received around £12,500 from the fraud, minus tax and National Insurance deductions, and had also made claims for around £1,800 and £2,800 in January and February 2020 which were not paid out.

Mr Jones said that Wherry had "gone off sick" while the company was investigating the matter and the court was told that while she did have health issues, the defendant had "claimed she had surgery which wasn't true".

While interviewed by police, Mr Jones said Wherry made a "frank admission that she needed the money and she was surprised at how easy it was and nobody noticed so then carried on doing it due to money troubles of her own."

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Defending, Jeremy Hawthorne, said the fraud is something Wherry "finds very painful to look back on" and that she is of "hitherto good character" and has shown "remorse". The 29-year-old, who is a mum-of-two, had no previous convictions.

Mr Hawthorne added: "The offence was driven by her home circumstances where she was engaged in family proceedings in relation to her older child" and after the birth of her second child "she and her partner moved into a cheaper home but money was still tight."

Liverpool Crown Court

Liverpool Crown Court

Passing sentence, Judge Thomas Teague QC told Wherry: "You are a thoroughly dishonest woman".

He added her fraud "was a betrayal of the director who put faith in you and it did cause considerable loss to the company."

The judge said the starting point for her sentence would have been 15 months in jail had Wherry not pleaded guilty, which was reduced by a third for her guilty plea.

Suspending the sentence, the judge said: "I think your remorse is genuine and you are the primary carer of dependent relatives and you did make admissions in interview.

"I have to ask myself whether appropriate punishment can be given by immediate custody. It's finely balanced because this is a serious offence. In the end I have decided it is not necessary to inflict immediate custody."

Wherry was also ordered to do up to 20 days of rehabilitation activity and given a four-month electronic curfew.