Fraudster jailed for stealing over £200,000 from Southend charity
Isabella George, 39 has been sentenced to three years in prison after detectives uncovered years of fraud while she worked as an office manager
A woman has been jailed for three years after stealing more than £200,000 from a charity based in Southend.
Isabella George, 39, admitted taking £217,000 while working as the office manager. She pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation, false accounting, and fraud by abuse of position at Basildon Crown Court on 28 March.
At the same court on Thursday 26 June, she was sentenced to three years in prison.
Detectives from Essex Police’s Economic Crime Team said George, of Wansfell Gardens in Southend, abused her role to take large sums of money over several years. Officers reviewed records between December 2017 and August 2023 and found around 200 cash withdrawals worth nearly £41,000.
They also found she had fraudulently signed 96 cheques worth more than £171,000 and used the charity’s credit card to make over £9,000 of purchases without permission.
Detective Constable Lee Pudney, from the Economic Crime Team, said: “This was a meticulous investigation that examined hundreds of transactions to establish the full extent of Isabella George’s crimes.
“She abused her position within the charity to steal a huge amount of money and spend it on things like dentistry work.
“In an attempt to hide her offending she falsified company accounts over the course of five years and admitted using the accounting system to incorrectly assign purchases, cheques, and cash withdrawals to legitimate company projects.
“This was planned out and cynical. But thanks to the painstaking work carried out she was left with no option but to admit her crimes and is now behind bars.”