THE payment controller of a jet aircraft firm who stole £5,599 from her employer was told her crimes will be a stain on her character “for a very long time”.

Grace Folan, of Bayswater Road, Oxford, was convicted by a jury of three counts of theft in September and yesterday avoided jail at Oxford Crown Court.

The 28-year-old was found guilty of transferring money from Hangar8 Ltd into her bank account and that of her then partner between April and July last year.

Her former boyfriend Jon Mahon, of Edinburgh Drive, Kidlington, pleaded guilty earlier this year to handling stolen goods.

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Yesterday, Judge Patrick Eccles told the 27-year-old electrician that although there was no evidence he encouraged his girlfriend to steal it seemed “unlikely she would have done this all by herself".

He told Folan, who now admits she committed the offences, that during the trial she “presented a completely bogus defence”.

Judge Eccles said: “As a result of this, suspicion was cast by you on others.

“There was also a degree of reputational damage to the company and they had to spend time sorting all of this out.

“This will be a stain on your character for a very long time – that you not only committed these offences, but tried to lie your way out of it and harmed other people.”

He said Mahon’s case was not as serious, but added: “I have my suspicions about what happened, and if he did not go to prison it would seem unjust to give you an immediate sentence.”

During Folan’s trial Edward Culver, prosecuting, said she worked at the aircraft management firm, based at Oxford Airport in Kidlington, until she was fired on July 4 last year because of “concerns about her time-keeping”.

He said two payments intended for the company’s suppliers on April 19 and July 3 were paid into Folan’s bank account, while a further payment of £2,500 was made on June 12 into Mahon’s account.

Judge Eccles sentenced Folan to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work, a two-month curfew, and told her to pay £3,099 compensation, £3,500 costs and a £100 victims’ surcharge.

Mahon was made subject to a community order with 100 hours of unpaid work and was told to pay £670 costs, £2,500 compensation, and a £60 victims’ surcharge.

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