Stolen cheques used to pay post office's tax bill

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A POST office manager used £115,000 of cash her husband stole from his employer to pay her business tax bill.

Lorraine Johnson, the former manager of Ammanford Post Office, appeared in the dock at Swansea Crown Court next to her husband, Anthony, on Friday.
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She suffered a panic attack in the dock as the facts of the case were read by prosecution barrister, Mark Spackman.

The court heard that in 2005, Anthony Johnson was employed at the Ael y Bryn care home. He also ran a shop called The Beauty Spot.

The home is run by Chelliah Yoganathan and Anthony Johnson worked as an admin assistant.

After building up his trust, Anthony Johnson asked Mr Yoganathan to sign blank cheques for him to pay suppliers, but he then used them to pay his own debts.

Mr Spackman said later investigations showed he had written most of them to be paid to Ammanford Post Office.

The money was then sent to either his wife's struggling business or his own, The Beauty Spot.

Cheques were then sent to Inland Revenue to pay off both the businesses' tax bills.

In total, it was accepted by the prosecution that Anthony Johnson had taken £115,242.

Mr Spackman said: "The post office might not have been able to survive if it wasn't for the diversion of the money."

He added that Anthony Johnson was a "highly trusted employee", but said he had tried to cover his tracks by writing the names of legitimate suppliers in the business account's cheque book stubs so the crime would not be uncovered.

The offences came to light in 2006 when Anthony Johnson asked Mr Yoganathan to lend him money to help support his businesses. He then lent him £25,000

Anthony Johnson, 63, then repaid him £17,000 in three separate payments, but Mr Yoganathan became suspicious when those amounts corresponded directly with payments made by residents at the care home.

The Johnsons, of Llandeilo Road, Llandybie, were both arrested in May 2010.

Anthony Johnson admitted theft of the money, three counts of forgery and using criminal property.

The court heard he had three previous convictions from 2003 for false accounting. Those offences took place at another post office.
Huw Rees, for Anthony Johnson, said his client had already repaid £26,420.

Frank Phillips, for Lorraine Johnson, 54, said the proceedings had had a significant effect on her.
She admitted using criminal property on the day of her trial.

Judge Peter Heywood jailed Anthony Johnson for 18 months. His wife received a 15-month sentence, suspended for 18 months and was told to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Heywood said he accepted the pair had turned to dishonesty to help their failing businesses