When Company Bosses at a Scunthorpe based Business started receiving Commercial Debt Collection Agency letters alarm bells rang. Shortly after they found that one of their employees was stealing from the business on a massive scale.
Disgraced Company secretary Lisa Crawshaw was found guilty in Grimsby Crown Court and sentenced to five years in prison for fraud. She single handedly destroyed trucking firm C&C transport by stealing £1.7m over a five year period.
The Business owners discovered the theft after they started receiving debt collection letters for unpaid invoices that should have already been paid following the sale of the company.
Crawshaw had been listed as the company secretary for the business. Lisa Crawshaw, aged 45 and from Gainsborough, had stolen the money to fund a luxurious lifestyle. She had purchased 4 high value horses and told police buying horses was more addictive than crack.
DS Ben Robinson from Humberside Police’s Economic Crime Unit said: ‘Fraud can be an extremely distressing offence to become a victim of, especially when the level of offending is of the magnitude in this case.
‘It is clear that Lisa Crawshaw had no regard for her employers and instead defrauded them to fund her own luxuries.
‘With a habit of buying horses “more addictive than drugs”, as said in her own words, Miss Crawshaw not only destroyed a successful North Lincolnshire business, she also destroyed the owners’ years of dedication and future financial security.
‘Investigators from our asset recovery team continue to make enquiries into any assets that have been gained as a result of Lisa Crawshaw’s criminality.
‘She will now have the next few years in prison to reflect on her actions, and I do hope this goes some way to bringing the victims a sense of closure.
‘We are committed to tackling fraud of any scale, and would encourage anyone who believes they have been a victim of fraud to report it through Action Fraud.’
Crawshaw was jailed for five years at Grimsby Crown Court last Friday.
