Account manager jailed for £240k theft from struggling firm

A trusted account manager who stole more than £240,000 from her employer while the company made redundancies and battled to survive after the pandemic has been jailed.

Sharon Wathan, 55, of Lon-yr-helyg, Bridgend, worked for CMU Management for over 24 years and ran payroll management with sole responsibility over invoices.

Her fraud was uncovered in April 2024 when general manager Caroline Davies carried out a review of the company’s pensions. The investigation revealed Wathan had created two payrolls under her name in the accounting programme, claimed for extra hours and overtime she hadn’t worked, and was using petty cash receipts whilst keeping the money for herself.

The fraud affected two companies – CMU Management and CMU Infrastructure – with total losses of just over £247,000. CMU Management lost £128,000 whilst CMU Infrastructure lost £118,000.

In September 2024, the company engaged an internal HR firm to investigate. During her first meeting, Wathan admitted everything and became emotional. She was dismissed for gross misconduct and later arrested.

In a victim impact statement read to Newport Crown Court, Ms Davies said the fraud had had a “massive” impact on the local, family-run business. She said Wathan was aware of the struggles the company was experiencing but still chose to commit the offences.

Ms Davies said Wathan’s actions had impacted morale and community spirit in the company and led to her now constantly checking the accounts. She also explained how she was forced to carry out the initial investigations in her spare time, impacting on her family life.

Defence barrister Alex Granville told the court that Wathan was now bankrupt having handed back as much money as she could. He said she was in the process of selling her marital home, and that with the proceeds she would have paid £204,000 back to the companies. He said she was trying to release as much back as possible and was very remorseful about her actions.

Mr Granville said his client had no previous convictions and had not previously received as much as a parking ticket before her arrest in February 2025.

During sentencing, Judge Matthew Porter-Bryant said: “It started as an unsophisticated matter and simply spiralled. You in effect did not realise quite how large the fraud had grown. You persisted with it because you could get away with it, you persisted for a number of years. It may have been opportunistic at the beginning but it certainly wasn’t years later when you were caught.”

Wathan was charged with two counts of fraud. Judge Porter-Bryant sentenced the 55-year-old to two years and six months in prison, and ordered her to pay a victim surcharge of £170.