By Tony O’Reilly-
A fraudster who stole an extortionate amount of £452,787 over more than a decade by abusing and exploiting her position of “absolute” trust in Edwin May Ltd was handed a three-year sentence today.
Judge Alistair Devlin said it was clear that “realistically, it would not have been possible for this level of misappropriation and theft to have gone on, and gone on undetected for as long as it did and for so many years” without the defendant being in the position she was and exploiting it for her own ends.
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Norma Smyth(pictured) was told to serve half the sentence in jail and half under supervised licence conditions, Judge Alistair Devlin said it was clear that “realistically, it would not have been possible for this level of misappropriation and theft to have gone on, and gone on undetected for as long as it did and for so many years,” without the defendant being in the position she was and exploiting it for her own ends.
Judge Devlin further revealed that Smyth’s fraudulent behaviour had also adversely effected her colleagues and the Coleraine branch, with the director having “multiple sleepless nights” over the stress of the financial viability of the vehicle showroom and the manager offering his resignation after the thefts were uncovered.
Despite stealing and defrauding the car sales company of more than £3,000 every month for 11-and-a-half years, Smyth, the Antrim Crown Court judge revealed, had even asked her manager for a pay rise in the midst of her “not unsophisticated frauds”.
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Judge Devlin said it “demonstrates your insatiable level of greed”.
The judge added that unlike other fraud offences, there was nothing in Smyth’s life, such as drug or alcohol addiction, gambling debts or mental health issues, to motivate or necessitate stealing such “vast amounts” of cash.
Judge Devlin told the fraudster, who showed little to no emotion as she was jailed, while he noted “with some concern” that her children had been affected “however, and most regrettably, there maybe be something of an inevitably in that” given the fact that Smyth had “for many years, chose to live effectively a double life”.
“A hard-working and no doubt devoted wife, mother, homemaker and church goer on the one hand, but who was unfortunately at the same time, unknown to anyone, a skilled, persistent and accomplished fraudster and thief and who had only in December 2019 had the true extent of that double life revealed,” continued Judge Devlin.
The comment on her being a regular church goer highlights a hypocrisy among several church goers.
On charges spanning from February 1, 2008, to November 6, 2019, Smyth admitted stealing a £437,824 from Edwin May Ltd and also that she abused her position of trust within the car dealership by accessing company accounts to apply company funds to the value of £14,962 “in settlement of your personal invoices and car finance repayments”.
Opening the facts of the case, prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher outlined that in December 2019 Edwin May Ltd’s financial advisor noticed that, of the three branches, only the Coleraine branch was operating at a loss on motability cars.
“She investigated and noted that Volkswagen had paid the bonuses relating to the metallic paint costs to Coleraine Edwin May every month, but these costs had not been transferred to the correct accounts,” said the barrister.
During a meeting with the director, the financial advisor and Smyth, who at the time was the site administrator, initially claimed she had properly transferred the money to four nominated accounts. However, when pushed on the matter and asked to provide documentary proof, “she admitted that she had in fact stolen money”.
Ms Gallagher described how Smyth transferred credits and bonuses to accounts where customers’ cash payments were lodged and the fraudster would then withdraw the cash.
The court also heard “there were a number of vehicles purchased from Edwin May in the name of Mrs Smyth or her husband”, but the defendant abused her position of trust in that “records show that a significant amount of the account for each vehicle was paid for by transferring money from the Road Tax refund account”.
Due to her trusted position within the company, Smyth was able to hide her tracks in a number of different ways and Ms Gallagher told the judge that, in short, the disgraced thief misrepresented lodgements.
Questioned by police, initially in December 2019 and again in May 2021, the defendant admitted she had been stealing funds but couldn’t put a figure on the amount.
Judge Devlin questioned what Smyth did with the “colossal amount of money, none of which she paid tax on”, defence counsel Barry Gibson said his instructions were that “it’s quite simply a case of providing a better lifestyle within the family home and buying things for the family, clothes for herself, and in giving the family a better quality of life over these years”.
Judge Devlin was sceptical, however, and told the barrister: “I do have a difficulty with that.”
Mr Gibson highlighted that Smyth had been married to Mark Smyth for 22 years, she had a good work record up until now and had had a clear criminal record. Mr Gibson also outlined that Smyth had admitted her guilt at the earliest opportunity.
Jailing Smyth, Judge Devlin said the guidelines were clear that, in cases of such a “gross” abuse of trust, matters of personal mitigation carried less weight than in other cases.
Judge Devlin further revealed that Smyth’s fraudulent behaviour had also adversely effected her colleagues and the Coleraine branch, with the director having “multiple sleepless nights” over the stress of the financial viability of the vehicle showroom and the manager offering his resignation after the thefts were uncovered.
Reading from the victim impact statements, Judge Devlin said everyone connected with the showroom had been left with a “sense of betrayal” when they discovered Smyth had “skilfully abused” the trust they had in her, particularly the manager, who had been “manipulated” into getting her a pay rise.
They also felt that the thefts had “impacted the reputation and standing of the company in the community and the business has been tarnished by association”, so they will have to work to regain the public’s trust because of Smyth.
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