UK & World News
- 21 June 2012, 8:27
Thieving Bride Jailed After Lavish Wedding
A bride who stole £168,000 from her employer to help pay for a lavish wedding has been jailed for 20 months.
Kirsty Lane fraudulently siphoned large sums from the company where she worked, but her boss Peter Sutton was a guest at the wedding and his suspicions were raised by the sumptuous nature of the event.
Lane, 29, married her husband Graham in January last year at the Tudor-built Great Hall at Mains hotel near Blackpool.
She laid on a fireworks display, magician, two bands, harpist, saxophonist, a DJ, free bar, face painting and feathered masks.
Managing director Mr Sutton said: "We were greeted with flowers and champagne, entertainers, cellists and just a magnificent setting. The sheer scale of it was staggering."
But when Mr Sutton returned to the office, where the newly-wed bride worked as a part-time accounts clerk, he discovered that she had falsified invoices.
Instead of paying suppliers to the audio-visual firm in Leyland, Lancashire, she had diverted money into her own account.
She even bought bridesmaids dresses courtesy of the company and a jewel encrusted iPad case for £1,500.
Mr Sutton said her "unbridled greed" almost ruined the firm.
He said: "We employ 22 people. The greed that Kirsty Lane showed jeopardised the livelihoods of these people."
"It was the wedding that first started to raise alarm bells. Up to that point we had no idea. She was always claiming poverty and didn't do anything that would tip us off."
The former bride, who cried throughout Wednesday's hearing, had admitted 122 counts of fraud at the company Pure AV.
She was arrested at home and was unable to go on honeymoon to Mexico.
what do you think?
robert
Twenty months jail and a good time was had by all,except that is for Mr.Sutton.Who will reimburse him.
ali baba
Sounds like of she had not invited her boss, she may well have got away with it.
Pauline Wallis
I think they would have realised that the money was missing at some point. Silly girl for thinking she could get away with it, sounds like she left a trail of evidence.
Phylip de la Maziere
Sounds a right little madam
Adrian Wagstaff
It sounds like a lot more money than anybody tends to get or their relatives are left with after an entire life time of work then most of it is taken away during their old age spent on caring for themselves. Not that this comment will be around for long but while it is I'm also very surprised someone can steal that much money from a place of work and nobody actually noticed. It's practically enough to buy a Bournemouth beach hut.
Pauline Wallis
Ha Ha - Bournemouth's changed a bit! I got married there 35 years ago. £26 dress, £15 ring, £50 reception in Boscombe for 20 family and friends, borrowed cars and the invitations were left overs from a friends wedding. Paid for it all ourselves.Fantastic day. Honeymoon was 2 days in Torquay sleeping on a friends floor. Happy days. Why is there such a big competition now to have the biggest and best wedding. It makes a total mockery of the whole concept of marriage
Penny Thfc Argent
What??? They didnt allow her to go on her honeymoon? Now thats just mean! Haha.
Rhys Sage
I just don't understand the "big day" thing. Weddings seem to have been blown out of all proportion since the 1950s. They're just a single day in a couple's lives. Just a single day. All most couples will remember from their weddings will be saying their vows and being very tired. They will have a photo album that will most likely get lent out and never returned. They will have one or two portraits of them at the alter over the mantlepiece but that's all. No need to have such an obscenely lavish party as most brides have.
Pauline Wallis
I know what you mean Rhys - I know a young man whose girlfriend won't get married until she can have a wedding that is bigger and better than her friends. Lovely girl with noodles for brains!
Matthew Stoner
Yeah, this aint the 50's though. What a bah humbug attitude you have!.....I got married last year, wasn't lavish, but it was the most memorable day of our lives.....we got more than "one or two portraits" hanging up.......maybe for you lot who have been married 2, 3 times, I can understand your sentiment, but saying getting married is just "a single day" is down right miserable.......ANYWAY getting back to the story, what she did was shocking and disrespectful...I hope she will be made to pay the money back.....greedy c o w
Julie Crumpton
Yeah, but Matthew, you've sort of seen the point, as you said, it wasn't a lavish affair, you did what you obviously was in your budget.....lovely!
Andy Sunderland
What a silly lady was it really worth going to prison for ?
gengisken1227
She could have paid for all the wedding and honeymoon costs by cutting down on pies
Julie Crumpton
Rhys.... I so totaly agree! Lost count of the amount of people I know, spend an obcene amount of money....only to divorce 2 yrs or so down the line! It's all for show, to impress, you don't need all that rubbish! We had a wedding in a small village, did our own catering, trifles in margarine pots mother in law saved up, bless her! Bridesmaids dresses were actualy nighties! And we had a week in birth, north Wales! .....40 yrs on, I still feel I had a lovely wedding!:-)
Julie Crumpton
....borth, damn you spell check! Lol!
peter
Yes, its all to impress these days.........My wife has 11 sisters, and she made 11 bridesmaid's dresses.....every one was a bridesmaid. We paid for our own reception, paid for our own taxis, paid for the church, paid for guests from all over the UK to come, and paid for our honeymoon on the Broads.........in fact we paid for everything ourselves. My wife's family could not afford to. We even took one of her brothers on the honeymoon with us - beat that. We have been together for nearly 50 years now. Was it worth it ? Yes, I'd do it all again.
Windows Live User
Wedding dress homemade. 1 Bridesmaid. Friend drove Bride to church. Reception at my mothers small house. Wedding night at my elder sisters house. No honeymoon. Saved the money and emigrated on an assisted passage scheme. Would I do it again....well would I?
Julie Crumpton
Peter....lovely story!:-) so what does this tell us? You don't need all the over the top, unnecessary expense, and can anyone explain what bloody "favours" I other words a pile of sweets, I assume! Never heard of them till recently! And why would you need them? Peter....of course you would do it again....your priorities are spot on! .....windows live? Yep! You would too! :-)
Lorgar Aurelian
Looking at the pic half that amount must have gone to the local circus for the hire of her dress...
john lonsdale
GREED GREED GREED... SHE COULD HAVE COST THE JOBS OF 22 WORKERS. ESPEICALLY IN THESE TIMES WHERE JOBS ARE HARD TO GET. SHE SHOULD BE MADE TO PAY EVERY PENNY BACK. JUST A SELFISH PERSON OBVIOUSLY NO RESPECT FOR HER WORK MATES
eastonandrea
Completely agree with you John.
eastonandrea
I'm sorry but i fail to have any sympathy for this woman, but it does raise questions in my mind like did her Groom know what she was doing?, did her family know or suspect? She only worked part time but no one during her organising of her big day question where all the money was coming from? Personally i think she should have got longer and have to pay it all back within a time period, why should her EX-boss have to cut costs and deal with that kind of finacial short fall. I hope her new husband is completely embarrest by her and wonders what kind of woman he married.
eastonandrea
Sorry that should be embarrasted, silly me LOL
Julie Crumpton
.....or even embarrassed , lol! .....only joking, good points made! :-)
Michael Dynes
It's wonderful to hear the comments on this thread. It appears that not everyone is suckered into the idea of having to spend thousands on a wedding. I do not mean to sound sexist, but it appears that it is the girls who want the big lavish do. Any such girl is not worth marrying....she is clearly shallow, she does not understand prudence and she is concerned about the opinions of others as to the best interests of her and her future husbands.
Eric Shadforth
She should be ordered to pay the entire amount plus interest back. If she has to sell a house, sobeit. If she doesn't pay back, shes won, the company lost. It begs the question though about company procedures and random audits.
d and d Phillips
Is there any cake left........?
Jasmin Louise
Cold blooded, calculating witch!! Thank goodness no children were involved!
Mick Daniel
Nothing but pure greed. Not a thought for anubody else and she should be made to pay every penny back
Peter Edwardson
If it was my company I would take a serious look at the people managing it.
Michael Dynes
1:32pm on 20/6/2012
I wonder if the marriage will last. That's the problem you see. There is far too much emphasis and preparation for the Big Day and very little for the years to follow. Silly girl.