Company secretary who conned £320,000 from architect firm and blew it on luxury lifestyle of hotels and private jets is jailed for four years

A secretary was jailed for four years today for swindling more than £300,000 from her bosses to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets and sports cars.
Helen Hart, 46, ran up astonishing bills including £5,990 for a return trip to Paris, £7,816 on a hotel stay in Devon, and £4,752 on tickets and hospitality for a Premier League football match.
She also spent £31,368 on renovation work at her home.
Judge John Neligan described her actions as 'a blatant and brazen breach of trust' when he sentenced her to four years in prison today.
He told Hart: 'These frauds - that is what they are - were committed over six and a half years, while you were an employee in a senior and trusted position.
'You used the company money to fund a lavish lifestyle, you used the company money to fund expensive luxurious cars, in all about £65,000 one way or another was spent on cars.
'Taking everything into account and the affect of a prison sentence on you, and on your parents, the least sentence I can impose upon you is one of four years imprisonment.'
She also admitted using the company’s cash to pay her rent and water bills, as well as spending £2,000 on a kitchen, £4,985 on 48 bottles of wine and an undisclosed sum on shopping at Marks and Spencer.
Hart also confessed to spending the firm’s money on luxury cars including a Porsche Boxster and a Range Rover.
She spent £46,500 on a Mercedes, too, using money kept in her Coutts bank account.
Hart stole the cash from PDP Green Consulting Ltd, an architectural and engineering firm based in Truro, Cornwall.
The missing money was first discovered when the accounts of Cornish engineering firm PDP Green Consulting were wiped out - leaving it facing an unpaid £271,000 tax bill in May 2011.
She was accused of stealing more than £380,000 from the firm between October 2005 and May 2011, but Hart disputed the amount of money stolen - claiming she had merely embezzled £190,000.
But the court heard today that there was a financial loss of £325,000 through Hart's fraud, deception and theft.

Guilty: Helen Hart, pictured left, admitted used money from the company owned by Philip Desmonde, pictured right with his wife Susanne, to pay her rent, water and Marks & Spencer shopping bills, as well as £2,000 on a kitchen and £5,000 on 48 bottles of wine

Offices: The money was taken from PDP Green Consulting (pictured), an architecture and civil engineering firm run based in Truro, Cornwall, where Hart worked as company secretary, the court heard

Victims: PDP Green Consulting Ltd boss Philip Desmonde, who ran the company Helen Hart stole from, and his wife Susanne arrive at the Truro Crown Court to see her sentenced

PDP Green Consulting Ltd boss Philip Desmonde and his family have claimed Hart spent much of the money trying to look and dress like his wife Susanne 'to push her out of his life'.
Hart is accused of visiting the same hair salon, wearing the same clothes and even hiring the same fitness instructor as Susanne - echoing the plot of the 1992 movie Single White Female.

Living a luxurious lifestyle on a modest £20,000 a year salary, she told her boss she inherited the fortune from a gangland uncle who was pals with the Kray Twins.
At an earlier hearing Hart, of Illogan, Cornwall, admitted syphoning off cash to pay her £600-a-month rent and bills for four years.

Tearful: Hart admitted using the money on rent, £2,000 on a kitchen and £5,000 on 48 bottles of wine

A further £2,000 was spent on a kitchen, £4,985 on 48 bottles of fine wine and other sums frittered away on designer shopping sprees, the court heard.
Hart also liked to ride in luxury - buying a Porsche Boxster, BMW X5, Range Rover and a £46,500 Mercedes with money swindled from her employer.
She even had an account at Coutts - the posh bank used by members of the Royal Family and mega-rich Premiership footballers.
In March 2007 she ran up a hotel bill of £8,000 at Bovey Castle, a luxury hotel and golf course in Dartmoor National Park where rooms cost up to £689 a night.
Roger Green, managing director of PDP Green who were conned by Helen Hart, was left disappointed at her four year jail sentence.
He said last night: 'We are of course very pleased with the outcome of this case, although we feel the severity of Mrs Hart's crimes warranted a longer sentence.
'She has defrauded the company over a long period of time, abusing the trust placed in her by the directors of the company and her work colleagues and has shown no remorse for her actions.'
Another victim was the charity Ella's Memory - founded by Martyn and Emmillie (COR) Selley in honour of their second child who was stillborn in December 2009.
Married Hart offered the charity £10,000 in November 2010, claiming to have had a child who suffered a cot death, but the cheque bounced.
She also promised to sponsor Truro Rugby Club after meeting one of its players, claiming she was a multi-millionairess with £10 million inheritance to spend.
Detective Constable Nick Stidwill said: 'She drove luxury cars and dressed well giving the appearance of having money, all based on a fantasy that she had inherited enormous wealth. But the reality was PDP Green was funding it.'

Luxurious location: Hart spent £7,800 on staying at the posh Bovey Castle hotel in Dartmoor, Devon

Trips: Hart spent money on a private jet to Paris (left) and on shopping at Marks & Spencer (right) (file pictures)

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