Accountants in Preston company Pure AV were left surprised when they discovered that one of their staff, 29 year old Kirsty Lane, had embezzled almost £200,000 from her boss to pay for her lavish wedding.
Lane, who has been jailed for 20 months, was caught out when she invited her boss Peter Sutton to her expensive big day.
Mr. Sutton became suspicious when the part time accounts clerk had a free bar for 100 guests, a harpist, fireworks, a harpist and food by an award winning chef at the wedding.
When the accounts were checked, it was discovered that she had been stealing from the firm for over two years.
Lane was arrested before she could leave for her honeymoon to Mexico and has admitted to ten counts of fraud.
Mr. Sutton has said that her ‘unbridled greed’ had almost ruined his video conferencing business.
‘I trusted her implicitly and this was how she repaid us. The wedding was the most lavish thing I’ve ever seen.’
Lane earned less than £15,000 a year working at Pure AV in Lancashire for four years. She invited all of the company’s directors to her wedding in January 2011. The day was thought to have cost up to £40,000.
Mr. Sutton checked an invoice following his suspicions and found that Lane had been using real invoices to existing suppliers to create extra payments into her personal account.
He added: ‘How it didn’t sink us I don’t know. It is only through the sheer determination of the rest of the team that we are still here.’