On Monday the 3rd April 2017 at the Court of General Gaol, Douglas, Fenella Jane Carter, aged 32 years of Peel, Isle of Man, was sentenced for the theft of ?33,700.   She was sentenced to a total of 20 (twenty) months custody.  Passing sentence Deemster Rosen commented that she had “seriously damaged a member of your own family” and was an act of “serious dishonesty”.
 
Miss Carter’s book keeping company FCS Limited was engaged by Carters Limited in the latter part of 2007.  Carters Limited is an advocate’s legal practice owned by her uncle, Mr Jeremy Carter.  Between 2007 and 2011 she was trusted to carry out this work with unsupervised access to the current, client and client reserve accounts of the company.
 
In undertaking this role she seriously abused her position not only as a book keeper but as the niece of the uncle who gave her work in order to steal over ?33,700 from both the client account and current accounts of her uncle’s company between August 2009 and June 2011.
 
This matter came to light after a discrepancy was discovered in the accounts of Carters Limited which the Miss Carter claimed she had paid to the VAT office.  A previous book keeper was employed to undertake reconciliation work of the accounts and as a result of this the extent of the dishonesty was uncovered.    Miss Carter’s father had repaid the money used by Miss Carter to purchase the horsebox in the latter part of 2012.  An examination of Miss Carter’s bank accounts revealed there was never any realistic prospect of her repaying the money without this assistance. Miss Carter was arrested in June 2014 but continued to deny any dishonesty.
 
Detective Constable Julie Jones of the Financial Crime Unit said: “This case is the result of a protracted and complex investigation by the Financial Crime Unit.  Miss Carter stole this money to refurbish a horse box and left her uncle’s business with serious difficulties.  She used her position and knowledge of book keeping to successfully perpetrate this crime and then attempted to disguise her offending.  This matter has had a significant impact on all those involved and not just in financial terms.  The Carter family will need time to repair the damage that has been done by Miss Carters actions.”