A THIEVING medical secretary who fleeced consultants she worked for to fund a lavish lifestyle will have to sell her home to cover the money she has been ordered to repay.
Crooked Diane Wilson was driving round in a Mercedes, spending thousands on holidays and paying for private health care as she diverted payments to the consultants into her own account.
The 54-year-old, of Laurel Drive, Stockton, near Southam, had to exchange her life of luxury for one in a prison cell after being jailed last year for three years and four months.
The court heard Wilson, who had admitted obtaining a money transfer by deception and five offences of fraud, committed over a nine-year period, had made £385,000 from her crimes.
But after an investigation into her finances, prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith said Wilson’s available assets amounted to £181,503, the bulk of which was dependent on the sale of her home.
So Judge Peter Cooke made a confiscation order for that amount under the Proceeds of Crime Act, giving Wilson three months to pay it or face a further 18 months in jail – after which she would still have to find the money.
And the judge said the money confiscated from her should be used to pay compensation to consultant surgeon Peter Binfield and Nuffield Health.
During the earlier hearing Mr Grieves-Smith explained Wilson carried out the frauds against two consultant surgeons who had employed her in her capacity as a medical secretary.
Wilson, who worked from home and had a salary of at least £49,000, was trusted with the banking and the payment of invoices, with the consultant even signing blank cheques for her to use.
As to where the money went, Mr Grieves-Smith said that over the nine-year period Wilson had spent over £62,000 on leasing prestige cars including a BMW and a Mercedes, £21,000 on private health care and a minimum of £20,000 on holidays.