Bride Gabriella Saunders steals £22,000 from City colleagues to pay for “lavish” wedding and honeymoon
They say getting married is one of the most expensive things you can do – prices have crept up again and the average cost of a British wedding has reached £20,500, according to a recent survey.
But few of us would go down the route Gabriella (Yinka) Saunders took. She stole more than £22,000 from her City colleagues, by fraudulently using their personal bank cards, to pay for her lavish wedding and honeymoon.
Saunders, 31, from Camberwell in London, was working as a temporary PA for an investment management company in the City of London.
She stole nearly £17,000 from one of her victims – her boss – and nearly £5,300 from a second victim who worked in the same office.
She used the money to pay for her wedding, which took place last September in Dulwich, London.
According to the City of London police, the funds were used for the wedding venue, flowers, watch repairs, clothing – “including bikinis” – and a honeymoon in the Seychelles.
The police arrested Saunders and her new husband as they stepped off the plane at Heathrow airport.
Saunders has received a 15-month sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge. She is also required to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
Her husband was later released with no further action.
City of London police detective inspector Doug Blackwood said: “Gabriella was a trusted member of staff but abused this trust for her own selfish gains.
“She stole money from two of her colleagues without thinking twice of how this would affect them or about the consequences she herself would face.”
This is not the first time Saunders has been in trouble with the law. Back in 2007 she was jailed for six months for stealing more than £34,000 from her employers PwC.