A grandmother who blamed a compulsive spending addiction for defrauding her employer of nearly ?200,000 has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Ewa Bieniak, 46, stole ?194,509.66 from Wednesbury-based Sirus Automotive whilst working as a payroll administrator between November 2021 and March last year.

Birmingham Crown Court heard this week that this was the second time the Polish national had been jailed for workplace fraud.

She previously received a two-and-a-half year sentence in 2016 after stealing ?306,000 from Birmingham recruitment agency Team Support Midlands between 2010 and 2015.

The fraud at Sirus Automotive, which provides mobility vehicles for disabled people, involved sophisticated methods including the creation of "ghost employees" to divert company funds to herself.

Her deception led to innocent staff members falling under suspicion before investigators identified Bieniak as the perpetrator.

Judge Heidi Kubik KC said there were "elements of sophistication" in the fraud scheme and highlighted the serious impact on the company.

The judge also pointed to "the fact blame was wrongly placed on others" as an aggravating feature of the case.

The 46-year-old, from Turner Avenue, admitted fraud by abuse of position at Monday's hearing.

Defence barrister Queenie Djan told the court her client's "actions were driven by an unfortunate compulsive spending addiction" and that "spending was her way of coping with emotional pain".

Djan said Bieniak's mental health had deteriorated following her mother's death in 2018, when she could not afford to travel to the funeral.

The court heard Bieniak had been married for 26 years and has an adult daughter and grandson.

"She didn't consider the consequences at the time," Djan added, stating that her guilty plea demonstrated "genuine remorse".

Judge Kubik emphasised that Bieniak's previous conviction for similar offending was "a significant aggravating feature" of the case.

The defendant broke down in tears as the judge confirmed she would be imprisoned immediately.

"You are supposed to declare previous convictions when seeking employment of this nature," Judge Kubik said.

"Obviously it would be most unwise to seek employment in an area which involves you having access to company accounts to avoid a repetition of this behaviour." (GBN)

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