Daily Times

A County Tyrone woman who stole £1.9m from her employers to fund her “luxury lifestyle” has been given a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Julie McBrien, 47, of Screeby Road, Fivemiletown, committed 26 counts of fraud and money laundering over an eight-year period.

It was established she significantly breached the trust of her employers, Cookstown-based Northern Mouldings Limited. The company is owned by Heron Brothers. McBrien was in charge of finances but despite enjoying a good salary, she filtered cash from the company, bringing it to the verge of collapse.

Figures identified the expenditure sustained a luxury lifestyle in her lavish mansion. This included £360,000 general expenditure; £356,000 property development; £311,000 interior design; £231,000 fashion and beauty and £145,000 on jewellery.

McBrien made up false bank statements and forged the signature of a former employee after failing to remove his name from the bank mandate.

She then forged a bank mandate making her solely in charge of finances, countersigning cheques to herself and creating false invoices.

She also confided in a company director claiming to have a rare form of cancer. This was exactly the same condition a close relative of the director had endured and he went out of his way to provide support for McBrien as his employee. But there was no cancer and she continued to fund her lifestyle without interference from her employer.

When she was arrested she admitted the offences, initially claiming money was spent “just on holidays” adding “there’s nothing to show for it”.

She blamed the company accountants for “not doing their job properly. If they had, I wouldn’t be here”.

LUXURY LIFESTYLE — McBrien appeared in the dock of Dungannon Crown Court dressed entirely in black and kept her head down, weeping throughout her sentencing.

Judge Brian Sherrard QC noted the company placed total trust in her which had been significantly abused.