Riddock appeared in the Royal Court on Friday for sentencing. Laying out the facts of the case, Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam said that Riddock was employed as office manager of Gell Electrics in 2016, a small business employing eight people.
She was the only member of staff to use the company’s accounting software and have access to its online banking. Although the company’s owner and managing director, Kevin Gell, also had access, he rarely got involved and trusted Riddock to settle invoices and pay wages on a weekly basis.
On 6 November 2019, Mr Gell asked Riddock for the four-digit number to access online banking. She became defensive but eventually gave him the password and PIN number.
The next day, she failed to come to work and it was only after several days of trying to contact her that Mr Gell found out from Riddock’s father that she had suffered a breakdown.
The following month, a supplier, Yess Electrical, contacted Mr Gell to ask for £2,964 to pay an outstanding bill. Mr Gell checked online and saw that that amount had been sent to the firm on 6 November.
“He told Yess Electrical that payment had been made, however they again said that they had not received payment and provided their account details,” said Advocate Hallam. “The account details provided by Yess Electrical were not the same as the account the payment had been sent.”
After finding other discrepancies, Mr Gell reviewed the statements of the business over the previous three years and found 36 unauthorised payments totalling the £72,396.94 under the reference ‘Yess Electrical’.
In fact, Riddock had sent all the money to her own account.
The accounting software showed that Riddock manually added each transaction that referenced the supplier then deleted the invoice. This meant that the accounting software was reconciled with the payments made.
Arrested in March last year, Riddock immediately admitted her guilt, telling the police that she was in debt and had used the money to pay her rent and her children’s maintenance.
Pictured: Advocate Julia-Anne Dix defended Riddock.
Defending Riddock, Advocate Julia-Anne Dix said that her client was “very ashamed” of what she had done.
“She cooperated fully with the police from the start and only used the money to support herself financially and her two children,” she said.
Advocate Dix said that Riddock’s relationship with her children’s fathers had both broken down and she no longer had access to them.
“She was guilty at not being able to be a mother to them on a day to day basis,” said the lawyer. “She wanted to prove their worth to them and all this put pressure on her mental health.
“She suffered a breakdown in November 2019 over the guilt of what she had done and the fear of getting caught. Since then she has taken full responsibility for her actions and she has sought help for anxiety and depression in prison.
“She also says she will always regret the stress, torment and shame that she has placed upon Mr Gell and the business.”
Sentencing Riddock, Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, who was sitting with Jurats Blampied and Ronge said: “This is a small company that suffered significant financial loss.
“It has also had a substantial effect on its owner, who has suffered sleep deprivation and anxiety over why someone who he thought of a friend could have done this and why he didn’t discover it sooner. He trusted the defendant, who breached that trust.”
However the Court did take into account Riddock’s cooperation, remorse, mental health and family circumstances in slightly reducing the Crown’s recommended sentence by three months.
It also decided not to impose a compensation order after hearing evidence that Riddock had no means to pay the firm back and an order would be “setting her up to fail”. However, Commissioner Clyde-Smith said that the firm could make an “undefendable civil claim.”
Afterwards, a police spokesperson said: “These offences demonstrate a blatant breach of trust from an employee who operated dishonestly and deceived her employer for some time.”