Edmonds Marshall McMahon, on behalf of Provident Personal Credit Limited, brought a successful private prosecution against the Defendant, Marie Howell, for five counts of fraud by abuse of position contrary to s.1 of the Fraud Act 2006.
There was clear evidence that Ms Howell routinely abused the position of trust she held as a loans agent for Provident by asking others to take out loans for her benefit, retaining customers’ monies, not accounting to Provident for monies that she had received and submitting loan agreements to Provident that she knew were not bona fide. Her conduct was clearly dishonest and caused considerable loss to Provident and, in addition, exposed those whom she asked to assist her, or in whose name she fabricated loan applications to the risk of loss.
On the 3rd August 2017, Ms Howell appeared at the Sheffield Crown Court, where she was sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, with 30 hours rehabilitation requirement and unpaid work order.
