An optician's secretary who stole more than £170,000 over five and a half years was sentenced to two years imprisonment in Nottingham Crown Court on October 25.
In court Deborah Ayto, a former employee of Woolcott Opticians, pleaded guilty to four counts of theft which included more than £80,000 in wages beyond her entitlement, more than £59,000 in cash, over £23,000 in cheques paid to herself and £5,900 in cheques to pay her own utility bills.
According to the Retford Times Newspaper she gave her children a private education and enjoyed two to three foreign holidays a year.
Ayto explained in court that her husband had lost his job in 2003, leaving them with a house they could not afford and school fees of £6,000 a term. Her barrister, Graham Huston, likened Ayto in court to the fictional character Walter Mitty.
Dispensing optician and Woolcott partner Stephen Clarke said Ayto was responsible for banking at the practice and cheated the business by cashing cheques and changing her salary. She also awarded herself more each month than the partners.
Woolcott Opticians was badly hit by the fraud, with the partners forced to take out an overdraft, which 'kept growing and growing' according to Clarke. 'When these things happen you think you've got your business model wrong. It's not that we weren't aware that something wasn't right, we just never suspected that,' he said.
In October 2008 Ayto handed in her notice and was given a £300 leaving present, but in the following month her actions came to light. The police were contacted and an investigation began into the thefts which resulted in Ayto's arrest on July 29, 2009.
