Thief ordered to pay back thousands to former employer

A thief who stole £415,000 from her employer has been ordered to pay back £139,000 of the stolen money.

Diana Cummins, 56, formerly of McCarthy Way, Finchampstead, was jailed for three years in February last year after she admitted charges of forging company cheques that were paid into her account while working as a financial accountant for Bering Heating Supplies in Wokingham.

The case was passed to the asset recovery team in the police Economic Crime Unit, and a confiscation order was made for Cummins to repay £139,000 to the victim at Reading Crown Court.

If she fails to pay it back by July she will have to serve another 27 months in prison, and will still have to pay back the cash.

Financial investigator Jennifer Bailey, of the Thames Valley Police Asset Recovery Team, said: “Cummins seriously abused her position of trust and she nearly destroyed the small business that she worked for by stealing a significant sum of money to maintain a standard of living that she and her family could not legitimately afford.

“The Proceeds of Crime Act enabled us to recover what cash Diana Cummins has left in order to compensate the victim, albeit for a significantly smaller sum than that stolen.

“Convicted criminals can be sure that we will vigorously attempt to deprive them and their families from continuing to live off of the proceeds of their crimes.”