Accountant defrauded company of £40,000 to fund French Alps skiing holiday

A chartered accountant has been jailed after defrauding her employer of more than £40,000 before spending it all on a ski trip to the French Alps.

Kirsty Payne, 44, worked at commercial vehicle dealers Marshall Thermo King, trading as Marshall Fleet Solutions, based in Cambridge.

Cambridgeshire Police said that, in February 2025, Payne ran a payment of £400,410 through the system from various suppliers, but this was £40,383 more than it should have been.

After the discrepancy was spotted last April, checks revealed the extra money had been paid into an account of one of Payne’s family members.

Payne had been signed off work with a doctor’s note, dated March 30, citing her declining mental health.

During a wellbeing check with the company’s head of HR, she admitted fraudulently taking the money from the business and resigned from the firm.

The force said she initially claimed the cash was for a family member’s medical treatment but, in a later police interview, said it was actually spent on a skiing holiday to the French Alps.

Payne, who had a previous conviction for fraud by false representation, said she was having money troubles despite earning about £80,000 a year, police said.

She pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation at a previous hearing at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court, the force said.

Cambridgeshire Police said Payne was jailed for one year and six months at Peterborough Crown Court on September 10.

She was given 10 months in prison for the fraud offence, but the longer overall sentence resulted from her having breached a suspended sentence relating to a previous crime of the same nature, police said.

Detective Constable Valentin Radulescu, who investigated, said: “Payne gave little thought to the impact of defrauding her employer out of tens of thousands of pounds.

“By committing fraud for a second time, she showed she had not learned her lesson, and this was looked on negatively by the courts, who imposed a custodial sentence which she had initially avoided. I hope her time behind bars allows her to reflect on her actions and, hopefully, this case also serves as a warning to anyone else hoping to turn a profit through deception.”