Southampton
Theft of £23,000 from childhood friend
A MOTHER stole more than
£23,000 from her childhood
friend after taking her bank
documents and driving
licence, a court heard.
Kathryn Pomeroy used the money she
stole from her friend of 23 years to pay
off debts.
Southampton Crown Court heard that
the mum-of-two, of Victoria Road,
Southampton, withdrew a total of
£23,243.75 from her friend Marianne
Neville's savings account.
Pomeroy, 28, pleaded guilty to seven
counts of fraud and asked for a further
eight fraud offences to be taken into
consideration.
Sarah Dineley, prosecuting, said: "Last
July this defendant was experiencing
problems with her boiler.
"She asked for a set of keys so she and
her children could shower at Miss
Neville's house.
"This gave her freedom of the house
when Miss Neville was not there and on
one occasion she took her bank pass
book and driving licence."
Miss Dineley told the court that
Pomeroy had already borrowed £7,000
from Miss Neville to help clear her
debts.
Pomeroy, a self-employed nail technician
who also works in a pub, used the
bank book - backed up by the driving
licence as identification - to withdraw
money from Miss Neville's ISA savings
account on 15 separate occasions over a
three-month period.
Miss Neville discovered the theft when
she went to withdraw money and saw
her balance was thousands of pounds
lower than it should have been.
An investigation found that cheques
had been paid to Pomeroy.
She used the money to pay estate agent
fees, a deposit on a house, to buy a cooker,
to pay to tax and service her car and
to pay off £5,000 she owed her former
partner.
The court heard she also went on holiday
to Tenerife with a friend in January,
but she denied using the stolen money to
fund the trip.
She was given a 12-month prison sentence
suspended for two years, ordered
to carry out 240 hours' community service
and is subject of a 12-month supervision
order.
Judge John Boggis QC said: "This was
utterly despicable. It is absolutely
appalling that you should abuse the
friendship of Miss Neville"
6:47am Saturday 19th July 2008
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