Finance boss stole £35k from firm

A MOTHER stole nearly £35,000 from the Tyneside family business where she worked as finance manager, a court heard.

- SAM VOLPE

> Sarah Gray

Sarah Gray, 46, appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court on Friday.

She had previously admitted one charge of fraud by abuse of position.

At the hearing, magistrates decided they did not have sufficient sentencing powers to deal with her case, instead committing it for a Crown Court judge to sentence her.

The court heard how, over seven months from November 2024, Gray, from Consett, was finance manager at the Throckley firm UK Industrial Tapes. She fraudulently paid herself £34,257.19 across 36 transactions.

Prosecuting, Chike Anieto, told the court how a new finance manager - doing the same job title as the defendant - had been hired and in June 2025 identified a number of "missing" transactions. The court heard how suppliers had raised questions around missing payments.