Jailed accountant drove flashy cars after sacking, say Chesterfield bosses

Karen Brailsford conned Urban Design and Development Limited (UDDL) for nearly nine years by creating fake invoices which were paid into her own bank accounts.

The 53-year-old was jailed for four years and eight months last week at Derby Crown Court.

UDDL managing director Patrick Dawson described how in the weeks that followed her dismissal in February last year car finance companies called the firm trying to find Brailsford.

Patrick said: “I think a lot of the money went on lifestyle - deposits for cars and luxury caravans.

“She was seen driving around in nice cars, like a Mercedes GL, that hadn’t yet been recovered by finance companies.

“We had them ringing us up trying to find out where these vehicles were, I think what police have recovered (of the £1.4 million stolen) is negligible.”

Derby Crown Court heard on September 22 how Brailsford would scan invoices and change payment details to her own bank accounts.

Between March 2012 and February 2021 she stole £1,419,363, however she had returned just £71,309.

Brailsford was finally questioned by bosses in February 2021 when a supplier raised concerns as the defendant requested a refund from her personal email account.

Speaking about the moment the “pleasant” and “happy-go-lucky” employee’s dishonesty was revealed, Patrick, 51, said: “When I first found out I wanted to fly across the desk. I just said ‘you need to leave now’, I could feel my blood boiling.

“I genuinely don’t think she realised how much she had taken - I think she lost track of what she had already had.”

“Trusted” employee Brailsford was taken on at UDDL in April 2010 as a finance clerk.

“Everybody got on with Karen,” added Patrick. “She was pleasant and happy-go-lucky and did anything you asked her to do.

“I had 10 years with this lady and I treated her as a friend - she looked after us and I thought she had our interests at heart.”

Patrick, who employed Brailsford’s husband and her son, even attended her wedding. He added: “They weren’t just employees, they were friends.”

As finance clerk, a “standard” part of Brailsford’s role was making payments to suppliers and checking bank records.

However, the disgraced worker changed the job title on her email account to “account manager” - which gave suppliers “reassurance” they were dealing with someone in authority.

Patrick said: “You have to trust people in accounts who are dealing with payments - because unless you know something is going on it’s like a needle in a haystack.”

MD Patrick told how conniving Brailsford would appear in his office presenting six-month old invoices with altered bank details for his sign-off.

He said: “I’m signing off in excess of 2,000 invoices a month - I would raise queries but she would always have an excuse, like the invoice had been misplaced.

"I just thought the supplier hadn’t been chasing payments. If I had checked the bank details on every order I might as well have been doing Karen’s job.”

Speaking about Brailsford’s sentence, Patrick said: “The Crown Prosecution Service and the judge did a good job.

“Everyone says the system isn’t tough enough - that you can take £1.4 million and come out in two-and-a-half years. It doesn’t sound like a long time but it’s the next three Christmases.

“When you’re in your 50s, I wouldn’t want to be getting up in the morning and thinking ‘I've got another two-and-a-half years of this’.

“I can’t help but feel sorry for the situation her and her family are in - but she was persistently stealing for nine years.”