Fraudulent Practice Manager Escapes Gaol
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- Published: Sunday, 17 January 2021 18:23
- Written by Chris Tapper
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A former BUPA Dental Care practice manager has escaped a prison sentence after admitting carrying out a £60,000 fraud against her employers.
North Wales Live reported that Jennifer Christine Locke was given a suspended two-year gaol sentence after Caernarfon Crown Court heard that the 33-year-old had carried out a ‘sophisticated crime’ between September 2018 and July 2020.
The court heard that Ms Locke, who had formerly been practice manager at the BUPA dental practices in Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, had ‘refunded’ money to fake patients, directing it into her own personal accounts. The court was told that Locke had added fake new patients, applied credit notes and then refunded them to her own bank accounts.
Prosecuting barrister Elen Owen told the court that Locke had used five bank cards, three accounts and made a total of 93 fraudulent transactions.
As practice manager, Locke was responsible for both of the North Wales BUPA sites which had 16 members of staff.
In July of 2020, practice staff became aware that £18,000 of refunds had apparently been made to patients. After it was brought to its attention, BUPA launched an investigation.
The review identified a large number of refunds going to "so called patients" who had in fact not been seen and the company discovered that it had been defrauded of £60,276.
Locke, of Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, was registered as a dental care professional, but received an interim suspension in her absence from the General Dental Council prior to the Crown Court case, in November 2020. An Interim Orders Committee ordered the suspension of the dental nurse in the ‘public interest.’
Ms Owen told the court that BUPA staff spent more than 200 hours investigating the fraud at a cost of £5,620. She said that the defendant had been in a substantial position of trust and the potential damage to the company’s reputation was ‘unquantifiable.’
In Locke’s defence, barrister Sarah Yates told the court that the defendant’s husband had been made redundant at the time the offences took place and the family was in "dire financial straits.” The court was told that Locke acted out of ‘desperation’ and felt remorse. After her fraud was discovered, Locke was dismissed from her £24,994 per annum job, and was now on Universal Credit.
In sentencing Judge Nicola Jones told the mother-of-three: "You are somebody capable of rehabilitation. Your children would suffer if you were imprisoned immediately.” Judge Jones said she was also taking into account the defendants fragile mental health and the fact that the theft wasn’t to fund a lavish lifestyle, but to make ends meet in “dire financial circumstances.”
In addition to the two-year suspended gaol term, Locke was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work and obey a six months 9pm-6am curfew. She was ordered to pay £550 compensation within two years.
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