July 11, 2022 12.42 pm This story is over 20 months old

Father-daughter duo plead guilty to fraud after pocketing £25k from ‘cash in hand’ jobs

They worked for a company ran by a friend of the father
The loans were intended to help small companies through tough times | Photo: Adobe Stock
By Local Democracy Reporter

A 53-year-old father and his 25-year-old daughter have been sentenced in court for stealing more than £25,000 from their Wisbech-based employer.

Martyn Slender worked as a managing director for the company while his daughter Bethany worked as an office assistant and later a transport manager.

It was based in Wisbech and set up by Martyn’s friend in 2015, but about a year after the haulage business began trading, despite high interest levels and a growing customer base, the victim and owner noticed it was starting to struggle.

In 2017, Martyn Slender approached the owner about a pay rise, a request which was declined at the time with an explanation given.

However, a year later the victim noticed the business was struggling again without much reason. After speaking to a number of potential customers, the owner was altered to a struggle getting hold of Martyn and Bethany.

He also discovered the pair had been instructing drivers to take on a number of ‘cash in hand’ jobs and return the money directly to them. Upon further inspection these jobs had not been put through the books and amounted to around £25,000 in total.

Martyn Slender, of Henry Warby Avenue, Wisbech, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday, July 7.

Bethany Slender, of Sycamore Close, March, pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud, and was ordered to carry out 125 hours unpaid work, as well as paying £323 in compensation.

Detective Constable Mat Belfitt, who investigated, said: “This was an appalling betrayal of a friend who gave this pair well-paid roles within his business in order to help them out of financial difficulty.

“Today is the culmination four years of hard work to convict these two for the crimes they committed against the victim.

“I’m glad justice has been done today and hope this serves as a warning to others how seriously we take these crimes.”