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Thief 'lived like a footballer's wife'
A financial director who stole more than £2 million (Dh14.8 million) from company accounts to live the "lavish lifestyle of a footballer's wife" has been jailed for five years.
- The Telegraph Group
- Published: 00:02 October 28, 2007
London: A financial director who stole more than £2 million (Dh14.8 million) from company accounts to live the "lavish lifestyle of a footballer's wife" has been jailed for five years.
Sharon Bridgewater, who was described as a "female Walter Mitty" by her own barrister, used the money to buy seven houses, a Spanish villa, a Ferrari, a BMW and six Porsches.
She spent £120,000 on an entertainment system at her home and £110,000 on a luxury kitchen, which was later featured in a national glossy magazine spread.
'Like water'
Bridgewater also treated her partner to meals at restaurants including Claridge's and The Mandarin Oriental, where they drank £500 bottles of wine "like water".
Even as her colleagues were made redundant because of her firm's "parlous financial state", Bridgewater carried on embezzling cash, Southwark Crown Court in London was told.
Bridgewater, 36, wept as Recorder Brian Argyle told her: "You used the money you had stolen to live an extravagant lifestyle. You purchased properties and furnished them with lavish fittings. And you purchased high performance motor cars and went on exotic holidays."
Bridgewater was said to have been a "lapsed trainee accountancy student" who wanted to live the lifestyle of a footballer's wife.
The court heard her first "betrayal of trust" was in 1996 when, as accounts manager at Dyna-Five, a computer hardware firm in Epsom, Surrey, she disguised thefts totalling £25,000 as payments to the taxman and various suppliers.
Community service
She was exposed when her boss checked the company bank account and found that only a few pounds were left.
Bridgewater was given a community service sentence for fraud, but hid her conviction to secure a job in 1999 at London-based marketing agency Hicklin Slade.
There, she transferred funds into her own account and quit when she feared being found out.
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