Woman stole £159,000 to try to keep boyfriend: 'Fantasist' Caroline Woollen claimed she had won Shell and Siemens contracts to get cash
A MANAGER of a global offshore company stole almost £160,000 to pay for luxury holidays to stop her boyfriend leaving her.
Caroline Woollen, 33, tricked her Danish employers Nordic Offshore into believing she had landed lucrative contracts with major firms including Shell and Siemens.
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'Broken woman': Caroline Woollen
Bosses authorised the payment of £159,000 to Woollen, believing she was using the money to pay workers to carry out the contracts. Instead, Woollen was using the stolen cash to buy her boyfriend a camper van and take him on exclusive skiing trips and luxury holidays to stop him leaving her.
Hull Crown Court heard Woollen, who had been drinking up to three bottles of wine a night, was a fantasist who led a "Walter Mitty existence". Her barrister Anil Murray said: "She wanted to be loved by her partner. She wanted to please him.
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"Once this offending was uncovered, her partner left her.
"She is a broken woman."
Woollen, of Springfield Avenue, Brough, pleaded guilty to fraud between April 2011 and May last year.
She was charged with stealing £387,609.13 but pleaded guilty to stealing £159,000.
The court heard Woollen even lied to her family about her accomplishments, claiming she was at drama school and college when both were untrue.
She said she lied to conceal the inadequacies she felt compared with more successful members of her family.
Woollen had previously defrauded a different company in 2010 and had been convicted of writing a false invoice.
She was also convicted of making a false representation in 2009 and ordered to pay £5,000 compensation.
Nordic Offshore, which supplies skilled personnel to the offshore industry, was unaware of her previous convictions when she secured a job with them after pretending she had excellent contacts with Siemens and Shell.
Her first task was to apply to the UK Border Agency for a licence allowing the firm's employees to work in the UK but she failed to make the approach. She lied to her employers, creating fictitious emails pretending she had.
Woollen then said she had obtained contracts with major firms, requesting thousands of pounds which she claimed she needed to pay contractors.
Prosecutor Jharna Jobes said: "She told her employers these companies were prepared to do business with them, which was untrue."
Woollen was summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the company last May as her lies began to unravel and she admitted her deceit.
Mrs Jobes said: "She admitted all of this offending and said she was trying to impress her boyfriend and her family.
"She went on skiing holidays, funded a £10,000 holiday to Canada with her boyfriend and talked about all the parties she had attended using company money."
Mr Murray, defending, said Woollen believed the stress of her conduct had led to the death her father late last year.
He said: "She comes from a respectable, happy family and has had chances in life.
"She has had every support and been brought up well loved. However, it seems she felt she didn't deserve that love.
"She has had siblings who have done extremely well and she has always felt she hadn't done well and didn't live up to what she thought was expected of her.
"As a result, she has low self-esteem and a desire, almost a compulsion, to please others.
"The irony is they love her for just who she is anyway."
Woollen has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered to attend an alcohol treatment course and carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
She will now face further legal action under the Proceeds of Crime Act as the Crown Prosecution Service is seeking to recoup more than £160,000.
Judge Simon Jack told her: "You are a victim of your own personality and your need to please those around you."
Comments
by Sensational
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 10:28PM
“A_G. Sounds very fickle to me. Reminds me a bit of a hypocrite. For instance someone who calls himself Geoff and Anon. Cheers. ;))”
by Maz666
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 5:40PM
“What a stupid b*tch. I am ashamed that she is the same sex as me. What about pride and common sense. He didn't want you, you silly mare.”
by zeebling
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 8:46AM
“33? really?”
by CalendarGirl
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 4:17AM
“Numerous offences!!!!!(Which have been noted. apparently!!?_ .........well we can call it noted because that's about the total worth of these previous convictions, it would appear!!-Has anyone of you good folk seen any post-it notes by the way? there are several all with smiley faces and the word KERCHING scrawled across the middle!!!-they are totally worthless, of course, - unless your milking some high profile corporate udder for every last drop you can get, all the while laughing at the (obviously, only when your sat at home getting re-acquainted with your good friend Monsieur Merlot) right honourable Judge Slack....(Sorry I meant Jack) is not looking, seeing behind your sad face!! Judge Slack who looks at you with his big sad eyes, which are mirroring yours, & his head is suddenly tilted to one side in an apparent understanding and sympathy for your plight, and aware of your desire, or rather your utter compulsion, to please people because you, like him are inadequate of understanding the bog standard basics of society!...."he feels for you"!!! Unlike many, this should also be noted!!? (As a total crock) Your misfortune for having siblings who are honest, and earning a legally sufficient relatively well paid successful living, or hand outs!!(Total speculation)
Damn them pesky halo's...If only mine would have fit too!!....... Please Judge Slack it's not fair!!! My tiara is too small!!
Not even the wicked stepmother or the ugly sisters combined, -let alone Cinders herself- would have gone to those abhorrent lengths for a happy ending with Prince (not so) charming, and then got away with it totally scot free. ......Even in fairy-tales the local villain always gets there just desserts. Only difference being in these stories one is more believable than the other, sewing mice and all!!”
by Hully
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 1:33AM
“They can't put her in prison, they are remaking On the Buses and she will play Olive”
by Anon_Geoff
Monday, January 14 2013, 5:37PM
“Fickle? Nah, it doesn't suggest that at all.
Not that we could really debate the particular merits of that post any more.”
by jimmytheone
Monday, January 14 2013, 4:30PM
“Why didn't she just admit to more crimes like that burglar Nathan Heath. I'm sure under 'Operation Cleanslate' our learned judge would have reduced her sentence, probably even given her a reward out of the public purse for being "honest"”
by Hunnyb_2252
Monday, January 14 2013, 2:42PM
“I agree with most of these statements, the judicial system is absolute **** in this country, had it been someone from a council housing estate they'll have been sent to prison without a doubt. However, as she's someone from the most affluent part of town, she's been given the equivelant to a slap on the wrist. As it's reoccurring offence, she should have been sent to prison and made to pay back what she owes. The judges in this country should grow a pair and meter out justice as their job implies.
She's using one excuse after another (or rather her lawyer is). First it's to keep her boyfriend happy and stop him leaving her, then she says it's to keep up (financially) with her family. Most of my family are in a better financial position than I am, that doesn't mean I'm going to steal from anyone just to prove myself as this woman is claiming.”
by Sensational
Monday, January 14 2013, 2:42PM
“Anon_Geoff's comment about you'd have to spend more on him to wake up with that every day makes him sound very fickle doesn't it? Perhaps this lady might find someone who loves her for what she is and sees her positive points. Perhaps her next relationship will see someone spending a few bob on her for a change. i am not sympathising with her for her crime by the way.”
by ferretmonger
Monday, January 14 2013, 2:39PM
“How come if your a woman you can steal as much as you like and get away scott free? They always play the emotional card and the pathetic judges we have in this country fall for it.”