Jacqueline Fletcher, 48 of Boundary Walk Brinsworth was today sentenced to 2 Years 8 months in Prison at Sheffield Crown Court (9th August). Fletcher appeared before Sheffield Crown Court to receive her sentence after pleading guilty to four counts of theft.
Fletcher admitted one count of theft from South Yorkshire Police, two counts of theft from the Department for Works and Pensions and one count of theft from the person of another.
In 2013, Police seized a large quantity of cash as part of a police investigation and placed into the property store at Attercliffe Police Station, where Fletcher was employed as Property Store Team Leader and was responsible for managing cash within the store.
Fletcher “informed the officer in charge of the investigation she had counted the cash and banked the money in the force account. In reality, Fletcher had banked £98,500 into her own bank account and only £1,500 into the force account. She subsequently left SYP in 2015.”
The theft was noticed when a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) investigation linked to the seized money requested the cash, the money couldn’t be found and an investigation was launched.
This led to the further discovery that Fletcher had stolen £63,548 in pension and allowance benefits from the DWP. The benefit payments were for her elderly mother who was in a care home. The funds to be used for fees and associated costs. No fees were ever paid.
Officers later found that in 2011, Fletcher received £116,527 from the sale of her mother’s property. The proceeds to cover care home fees. Of this ammount £68,624.26 was paid towards the fees, with about £15,000 given to another family member.
The remaining amount was spent by Fletcher, resulting in the charge of theft from the person of another.
After the sentencing, Detective Inspector Anna Sedgwick said:
“While Fletcher admitted her crimes before a court last month, she has not shown any remorse for her deceitful and criminal behaviour.
“She abused the trust placed in her by the force, as well as exploiting her vulnerable elderly mother, for massive sums of money. Her conduct has been truly despicable and I am pleased she has now received a custodial sentence for her crimes.
“Despite our best efforts throughout the course of our investigation, we have not been able to recover any of the money Fletcher stole. A POCA investigation is ongoing.
“The public of South Yorkshire absolutely expect our employees to behave professionally, honestly and with integrity. Fletcher has behaved disgracefully and I hope the public are reassured by the action taken by our officers to thoroughly investigate this matter and hold this individual to account.”
Chief Superintendent Shaun Morley, who was District Commander for Sheffield at the time Fletcher’s crimes came to light, provided a victim impact statement for the courts highlighting the impact of Fletcher’s crime against the organisation.
“This case has had two major impacts on South Yorkshire Police. Financially, the impact of Fletcher’s theft is significant, especially in times of austerity. To place the theft of £98,500 into context, this could pay for four newly appointed Police Constables for a whole year.”
“The public can have every confidence that the swift and decisive action taken by our officers to investigate this matter once it was brought to our attention demonstrates our commitment to upholding the law and bringing criminals to justice, regardless of where they work or have worked previously.”
