A finance manager of a car loan company that stole £117,000 to fund her online gambling habit put other workers job at risk a court was told. Following a family tragedy, Samantha Grindrod, developed drink and gambling problems.

To fund her addiction to online slots game, which are available at all of the big named online bingo, casino and poker sites, Samantha stole more than £100,000 from GB Car Loans. The money was stolen from the company bank account during a 10-month period in the form of duplicate payments. She had been stealing the money since September 2009.

The Court heard Grindrod went ‘off the rails’ after her uncle died following a vicious assault. The Bolton company was put at a significant risk as bosses had to take pay cuts and take out loans to safeguard the business.

Samantha Grindrod, aged 27, sobbed in the dock at Bolton Crown Court as she was sentenced to 16 months after admitting theft.

The court heard she was the financial controller at the company which employed 10 people.

A psychiatric report prepared for the court suggested that Grindrod had suffered a complicated grief reaction to her uncle’s death. Andrew Anderson, 47, died just two years ago only three months after he was beaten by a gang of three men. An inquest had found that the injuries were the ‘significant contributory factors’ in the illness which led to his death.

She duplicated payments to genuine companies, with one of the payments going into her bank account.

It was spotted by company director Nathan Ridings when she was on leave in August last year.

He found 57 transactions, worth £47,000, had been paid into Grindrod’s bank account in the previous six weeks. The company was told that she had been stealing the money over a 10-month period to fund her internet gambling habit.

In police interviews, she admitted the theft and said she had developed an addiction to gambling through online slot machines.

Judge Timothy Clayson said: “The company had placed considerable trust in you. Your dishonesty resulted in a loss to the company of around £117,000. That is a very large amount of money.

“This sort of offence is relatively easy to carry out, and then it snowballs, probably because it is easy.

“Your actions had a harmful effect on the well-being of the company. It is likely there will be long term effects to the business concerning credit and business partners.”

“You pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and you will get full credit for that. The personal circumstances which triggered this offending are substantial mitigation in my judgement so I can take a lower starting point. It is not, however, possible to pass a sentence other than immediate custody.”

Grindrod earned around £25,000 a year and had worked for the car leasing business for five years until her crimes were uncovered in August last year.

James Dean, a director of the company yesterday, said: “She had worked for the company for five years and had worked her way up, being given more responsibility.

“The directors had to take pay cuts and everyone has suffered financially and emotionally, but we managed to safeguard the jobs of staff and have, in fact, doubled in size since this happened.

“I am sure having to spend time in prison is not a nice experience for anyone and it is important to send out the message people can’t do this.

It’s been very upsetting for everyone. We had known Samantha for a long time. This has hit the company very hard.”