Adlington bride stole £70k for her ‘costly’ wedding (From Chorley Citizen)

Adlington bride stole £70k for her ‘costly’ wedding

4:44pm Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Adlington By Chris Gee, Reporter

A bride from Adlington who stole up to £200,000 from her bosses to help pay for her ‘costly’ wedding has told a jury her husband was unaware of her fraudulent activities.

Part-time accounts assistant Kirsty Lane, 29, channelled funds from her employer’s bank account into those of her own and her husband but claimed he had no knowledge of her crimes.

Her fraud was uncovered just days after she married Graham Lane, 36, last January, a jury at Preston Crown Court was told.

When they returned from a three-day honeymoon in the Lakes, Mrs Lane was greeted with a letter from Leyland-based Pure Audio Visual Ltd which stated she had been suspended due to suspicions about her thieving.

Giving evidence at her husband’s trial, Mrs Lane said that was the first time her partner learned she had been illegally transferring cash and he did not know the sums involved until they were both arrested days later.

Mr Lane denies knowing or suspecting that more than £70,000 paid into his account had been gained illegally.

His wife also used the cash to pay for home improvements at their property in Lewis Close, Adlington, and items such as a 52in TV and a Tag Heuer watch.

They had met in 2007 and Mr Lane had travelled up from his home in Dunstable to move in with the single parent and her daughter in August 2010.

She pleaded guilty last October to 10 counts of fraud by abuse of position and asked for a further 112 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Giving evidence in his defence, Mrs Lane said she lied to him that she had saved up £50,000 over the last 10 years and earned extra in bonuses and extra work.“He trusted me,” she said.

“He believed what I was telling him about the money.”

Kirsten McAteer, prosecuting, said her explanation that her husband was in the dark about the fraud was ‘not credible’.

Graham Lane has pleaded not guilty to converting criminal property.