British woman Sheena Warner was sentenced to three years in jail in the United Kingdom Monday for committing fraud after she stole more than 500,000 British pounds from her employer to spend it on maintaining a relationship with an Egyptian man, according to The Guardian .
The 65-year-old grandmother reportedly used the money to fund a luxurious lifestyle with the Egyptian man, as she went on expensive holidays to Sharm El Sheikh three times a year to visit the Egyptian hotel owner, invested in a leisure complex in Egypt and drove a Land Rover.
She came close to bankrupting the employer she worked for (for at least 15 years) after she stole the startling amount over a four-year period, from 2009 to 2013. She was trusted by her boss Julian Palmer to look after the finances of his quarrying business, giving her easy access to the money.
Alison Scott-Jones who represented Warner said in her defense that she "was flattered by the attention of a younger man, who didn’t exactly con her but certainly tricked her," adding that she "got herself into a long-term relationship and allowed herself to be used to channel monies which she didn’t get the benefit of.”
Warner, who falsified accounts to hide her crime, was almost caught when Palmer’s bank manager notified him that his business account had exceeded the overdraft limit by 20,000 British pounds, according to the case's prosecutor Alistair Haggerty.
Warner admitted stealing 100,000 British pounds in 2013 and sold her house, car and other assets to pay him back. Palmer, unaware at the time of the extent of her thefts, then ordered bank statements and found out that she had actually stolen a shocking 514,000 British pounds (approximately $800,000) from him, to which she has pleaded guilty.
“My life has changed considerably since this theft came to light, it has been the worst year of my life. The stress was too much for my wife, who left me. I cannot sleep, I lost 2st in weight and I ended up on medication,” Palmer said in his victim impact statement.
“I knew Sheena Warner for 15 years and I trusted her so much, the betrayal is as bad as the actual stealing and I never thought she would steal from me."