Jail for Bingo Lady who stole to fund her Bingo habit

by Hollie Sanders

Sandra Preston, who worked as a manageress in the Total petrol garage in middle street south, Driffield reportedly stole approximately £62,000 from her employer to fund her online bingo habit in just two months last year. It was the paypoint payment system that was installed in the garage that she fraudulently used to transfer funds to online bingo sites and her deception only came to light when the owners Eling Ltd put their business up for sale.

It has also been reported that Sandra Preston moved in with her friend after her marriage had broken down and she was introduced to online bingo by her friend’s mother who played online. She then began playing online bingo herself, but her gaming habit just spiralled out of control. She had already admitted fraud in an earlier hearing, and when she went back to court it was for sentencing.

Her barrister, Anil Murray, told the court: “Initially, she paid for her bingo activities herself. She then lost so much she began to get into debt playing on her own credit cards. It is an activity in which one can lose money and lose it fast. It became an addiction.”

On sentencing Sandra Preston, to six months in jail, Recorder Anton Lodge QC said: “You were a woman of good character and a woman of honour. You had led a commendable, ordinary, honest good life and the sad thing is that, when you got this job at this garage, you discovered a way to steal money from your employer.”

It beggars belief really that she was able to steal that amount of cash from her employer without it being noticed until they was trying to sell their business and it also begs the question, if they had not put their business up for sale how much longer would she have siphoned money of the firm before it came to light. It does not give me any pleasure to write about a story like this, but nether less it’s needed to be told, as it could prevent others getting into the same situation as this lady.