Eleanor Mawrey successfully prosecutes employee who faked cancer to defraud company

Eleanor Mawrey successfully prosecuted Elaine Lynch-Harwood who callously defrauded her employers over an 8 year period. Trusted with managing the company accounts, she abused that position by systematically transferring £191k into her own bank account rather than paying it into the company’s pension scheme.

The most cruel aspect of the case, is that throughout this time she pretending to her work colleagues that she was dying of cancer. She told them of her bone marrow transplant, of her chemo treatment and of her secondary illnesses when in fact she did not have cancer at all. She even fabricated letters from the hospital setting out details of her condition and treatment. Her employer went above and beyond the call of duty to support her throughout her supposed illness, allowing her time off, to work from home and hiring extra members of staff to assist her with her workload.

Ms Lynch-Harwood pleaded guilty to 4 counts of fraud on the morning of trial, accepting a total loss of £360k to the company. She was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court to 4 years imprisonment. Confiscation proceedings are ongoing.