A COUNSELLOR from Bromsgrove defrauded a rape charity of thousands of pounds during a betrayal which shocked her co-workers.

Carol Franks admitted four counts of fraud against the West Mercia Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre in Worcester and was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Friday (January 20).

The 43-year-old mother of Salwarpe Road, Bromsgrove, stole £6,375 from the charity over 12 months by claiming for work she had not done.

She had worked there for 16 years, beginning as a volunteer before gaining employment as a counsellor in 2011 although, strictly speaking, she was described as self-employed.

William Dudley, prosecuting, said the defendant would submit invoices for her work and would be paid via bank transfer.

In May last year she applied for what was effectively a promotion but was unsuccessful.

It was at this point the charity first became aware that she had made claims for counselling sessions she had not completed. This was treated at the time as an accounting error Mr Dudley told the court.

She did not charge for her next three counselling sessions to cover the shortfall.

Mr Dudley added: “It was at that stage the organisation discovered there was perhaps a little bit more to it and extensive enquiries were undertaken by the organisation.

“It found that there had been many, many appointments that the defendant had claimed for which had simply not taken place.”

Between July 2015 and July of last year the frauds amounted to a loss for the charity of £6,375, Franks each month claiming for roughly twice as many sessions as she had undertaken.

A meeting followed between Franks, her manager and the charity's chief executive when Franks blamed ‘a misunderstanding with databases’.

Mr Dudley added: “It wasn’t very long before she became quite emotional and accepted that the organisation’s suspicions were entirely correct. She had been making these false claims. This is a classic breach of trust case."

Her employment was terminated and police were contacted. Franks told police she had various financial difficulties caused by her undertaking a masters degree. Her partner had broken his foot and was unable to work.

She had no previous convictions.

A victim personal statement was prepared on behalf of the charity.

Workers said they felt less able to trust staff in future while the money stolen by Franks left them less financially able to support the victims of sexual abuse.

Mr Dudley said: "They feel saddened and betrayed by it and particularly hurt by the lying to staff and managers."

Concern was also raised about whether the fraud would affect future funding applications by the charity.

Clare Fear, defending, urged the judge to suspend any prison sentence, arguing that the defendant had accepted her guilt with an early plea at the magistrates court and had shown 'genuine remorse'.

Ms Fear said: "I would not be able to express to your honour how devastated she is by the offence she had committed.

"She is of good character which she tragically has now lost. She has lost her job and will, quite understandably, have great difficulties in finding another position with an offence of this nature.

"This is not an offence as a result of greed or selfishness but rather one committed through desperation and misguided and foolish attempts to put her own household to right."

His honour Judge Nicholas Cole said Franks had been 'a useful and productive member of society, helping others' before the offence and gave her full credit for her early guilty plea.

He also took into consideration the impact a custodial sentence would have on the defendant's daughter.

But he added: "It was not a one-off. It was over a sustained period of time. There was a degree of sophistication."

He said the charity would not be able to offer as much support to the victims of sexual crime as they otherwise could have because of her actions.

Judge Cole sentenced her to eight months in prison suspended for 18 months and ordered her to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

She will pay compensation to the charity at £50 per month and had expressed a determination to pay the full amount of the fraud to the charity.