Sharon Bridgewater, a former financial director (FD), convicted last month of swindling Bloomsbury-based marketing company Hicklin Slade & Partners of more than £2m, has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to 16 counts of theft between 1999 and 2005.

Bridgewater, a lapsed CIMA student, described as a ‘female Walter Mitty’ – after the fictional character who leads a fantasy life, concealed her criminal past to secure the FD job at Hicklin Slade before she started siphoning the company’s cash to support an extravagant lifestyle which included exotic holidays, luxury cars, £2,200 a time meals and a £90,000 entertainment system.

Her crimes were only exposed when Hicklin Slade’s auditors identified why the company was in a 'parlous financial state'. Bridgewater also admitted two charges of furnishing false information and one of perverting the course of justice by attempting to hide assets following a High Court freezing order after her arrest.

Bridgewater was sobbing as recorder Brian Argyle passed the sentence. ‘Because of their trust in you, they did not check or audit the accounts which you had done and the performance of the company deteriorated because of the losses from your stealing. You sat in meetings as staff were made redundant around you without saying a word,’ Argyle told her.

Further reading:

FD faces stiff sentence for seven-figure theft