A Co Armagh woman has been accused of abusing positions of trust with three different employers to defraud more than £200,000.
Although Lisa Marie McGuckin did not appear at Craigavon Magistrates Court on Friday the 45-year-old was charged with three offences of committing fraud by abuse of position over a time span between 15 September 2011 and 11 July 2019.
The charges allege that McGuckin, from Rose Cottages in Portadown defrauded £220,861 from her employers at Cots and Tots Ltd by transferring the cash out of their account;
She is also charged with defrauding the Drumcree Community Trust by transferring £1,918 from their account to hers and accused of abusing her position at Orchard Services Ltd by sending a memorandum to Companies House naming herself as a director of the company when she was not, intending to make a gain for herself.
None of the alleged facts giving rise to the charges were opened in court and the case against McGuckin had been scheduled to have a preliminary enquiry which would have seen the case referred upwards to the Crown Court.
Outlining how mother-of-three McGuckin had not attended as “she is at work”, defence solicitor Owen Beattie applied for the PE to be adjourned, revealing that he had only recently received “four lever arch files of disclosure” so he needed time to go through them.
Although Mr Beattie highlighted the complex and serious nature of the case in his application for legal aid, District Judge Bernie Kelly said it was her view that with McGuckin earning £400 per week, “that’s too high for legal aid…you cannot be expecting public money to pay your legal fees.”
She told the solicitor however “I’m prepared to leave the door open so that at the very least, you can make a fresh application in the Crown Court” when the case gets there.
DJ Kelly adjourned the case for a week.