Desperate mum stole almost £100,000 from Wakefield employer to pay off addict son's gambling debts

Tracey Frost spent 13 months siphoning chunks of cash to her own bank account, and sometimes directly to her son, from the Wakefield-based Caring for You.

Leeds Crown Court heard she had spent 10 years working for the company that provides care for vulnerable adults so they can live independently.

Prosecuting the case, Ayman Khokhar said she was a “highly-trusted” accounts clerk and had unsupervised access to the Horbury firm's finances.

The 52-year-old began moving money in October 2017. Then in November 2018, the company owners were alerted to unexplained withdrawals from the accounts and directed to Frost and her 25-year-old son Alec Hanson in "regular but varying amounts".

Bosses confronted Frost who confessed to stealing the cash to cover her son's drug and gambling debts. Messages sent between the two, who both live on Richmond Road, Moorends, Doncaster, indicated that he had problems and continually pestered his mother for money.

Said she would pay it all back, to which the bosses initially agreed, but weeks later they contacted the police after questioning how she could ever settle the debt.

Both were arrested in January 2019 and gave no comments. They were re-interviewed in Autumn 2019 and again gave no comments.

The total stolen was thought to have been just under £100,000. She had paid back a significant chunk and still owed around £64,000. Frost admitted theft and Hanson admitted acquiring criminal property. They pleaded guilty but only on the second day of their trial.

Mitigating for Frost, Satpal Roth-Sharma said: She’s never been before the courts before, and it’s unlikely she will be back before the courts. It was committed out of sheer desperation.”

No mitigation was offered for Hanson after Judge Christopher Batty said he would not lock either of them up. Her told them: “What you did was unacceptable. It’s really serious and you should haver pleaded guilty a long time ago.”

He gave them both 22 months’ jail, suspended for 18 months, with Frost given 200 hours of unpaid work, and Hanson given 150 hours. They both received 25 rehabilitation days.