Practice Manager Jailed for Theft of Nearly £300K
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- Published: Thursday, 14 December 2023 09:55
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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The former practice manager of a dental practice in Ormskirk, Lancashire, has been jailed for six years and nine months at Preston Crown Court after she was found guilty of stealing over a quarter of a million pounds from her employer, Mansion House Dental Practice.
Lisa Marie Jones, 55, finally admitted to her crime having initially deflected blame for the missing income onto some of her colleagues who, she suggested, were challenged by drug, family and debt issues.
Jones worked for sixteen hours a week at the practice. Although her remuneration was set at £1200 a month, the court heard that she had been paying herself £8000. Vendors of luxury handbags and shoes were just two beneficiaries of her spending sprees.
ITV News website, in its coverage of the trial, reported that Jones also claimed, falsely, that she had been ’given the money as part of a secret love affair with the owner’. Jones worked at the practice from the 1980s until 2016
Although charged in 2018, it was only earlier this year that she finally confessed to her fraud and to false accounting accusations that totalled £282,958.
Dentist John Haworth took over the practice in 2000 having worked at it for two years. He retained Jones as practice manager where she oversaw the business and financial affairs and was allowed time off in lieu for overtime. Mr Haworth burst a gut to keep his practice going, increasing his hours by 52 a month, but money was hemorrhaging. Jones had been ’adding numbers to her cheques after they had been signed off’ and in 2014 Mr Haworth broke down and sold the business to fellow dentist Christian Fair, telling his wife that "enough was enough".
Mr Fair chose to phase out cheques as an accepted payment method as digital banking gained traction. Jones, deprived of opportunities, then made changes to the practice’s payroll records to pay herself more. She adjusted her hourly rates and hours.
Finally, in 2016, Mr Fair who was concerned about missing funds engaged the services of a financial investigator to comb through the company’s accounts and his worst suspicions were confirmed. Theft on an industrial scale was ongoing.
Dishonest employees are a persistent threat to all businesses, however, as cheques and cash are consigned to history and most payments are made by plastic or ’phone, the potential for light fingered pilfering has been made harder. The British Retail Consortium confirms that 79% of all transactions today are not cash based. And in dentistry, practice software logs all transactions, although determined thieves will always find a loophole.
The emotional impact of dishonesty in a workplace cannot be understated and was especially acute for Mr Haworth who had to contend with Jones’ false claims about an affair. Dental practices invariably resemble families. Teamwork and confidentiality are key characteristics of a well-functioning dental workforce which added to Haworth’s pain. "Not only had she stolen from me, she told lies that affected my family. She has no remorse and I could not believe she would stoop so low" the dentist said.
"Lisa robbed me and her colleagues of pay rises on many occasions. She robbed me of a large part of my pension when I sold the practice. Her actions have inevitably affected my stability and trust in people, and I have lost opportunities I could have had with my children and family."
Christian Fair told the court he found face to face meetings and phone calls with his former employee difficult as Jones lied and was emotionally manipulating.Her claims about other employees had meant that they had been subject to deeply distressing interrogations about false accusations.
Mr Fair said: "Realising there had been a theft from the practice was a huge shock to me. Our staff were all long standing and I developed friendships with them. I thought I knew them all and could trust them all. Realising who was responsible highlighted the breach of trust and the charade of professionalism and friendship.
"I realised I had been underpaying John (Haworth) for two years. This resulted in me owing John £40,000 which I had to take out a loan to pay."
Mr Fair said his mental health suffered to the extent that he had had to use sleeping pills.
Judge Graham Knowles KC told Jones: "For seven more years you denied what you had done and blamed others for what you had done until eventually you changed your plea to guilty". He added "You abused your role and abused their trust. That continued until Mr Fair smelled a rat and called in investigators at a cost. You falsely blamed colleagues, citing what you said about drug habits or debts or family issues. That led to unpleasant protracted investigations against wholly innocent people".
Christian Fair and John Haworth continue to care for their patients at Manor House Dental Practice which provides NHS, private and Denplan dentistry. GDPUK finds the scale and content of this report deeply disturbing and sends Mr Fair and Mr Haworth all best wishes as they rebuild their confidence and livelihoods.
Lisa Marie Jones - Image Credit: Lancs.Live
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