A 40-year-old mother-of-five who struggled with a long-standing gambling addiction has escaped prison after stealing at least £12,000 worth of National Lottery products from a Premier convenience store where she worked.
Siobhan Ferguson appeared at Preston Crown Court after admitting to defrauding Devonshire Food & Wine on Devonshire Road in Ulverston over a ten-month period during the coronavirus pandemic.
The shop assistant, who had been employed part-time since 2019, carried out the fraud by taking scratchcards and lottery tickets without processing them through the store’s National Lottery terminal.
Ferguson had been a regular customer at the shop for six or seven years before becoming an employee, and knew the owner personally.
The fraud took place between January and November 2020, with Ferguson systematically avoiding scanning the lottery products through the shop’s systems.
CCTV footage captured her processing large quantities of scratchcards on 31 October, the same day the store owner first noticed irregularities in his National Lottery payments.
Further surveillance from November revealed Ferguson routinely concealing strips of scratchcards and lottery tickets beneath the till once her shifts ended.
Siobhan Ferguson appeared at Preston Crown Court after admitting to defrauding Devonshire Food & Wine on Devonshire Road in Ulverston
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The shop owner had initially observed an unusually high number of activations during June and July, believing he should have been approximately £2,500 better off each month.
He initially attributed the discrepancy to excess stock issues related to the pandemic before reviewing the security footage and discovering the true cause.
The investigation culminated when officers attended Ferguson’s residence, also located on Devonshire Road, where they discovered approximately £7,000 worth of used scratchcards along with 300 lottery tickets stored in her downstairs bathroom.
The shop owner had initially observed an unusually high number of activations during June and July, believing he should have been approximately £2,500 better off each month
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PAProsecutor Celia Pritchard told the court these items were likely the losing tickets, with additional lottery products found in Ferguson’s handbag during the police raid.
When interviewed by officers, Ferguson expressed embarrassment about her gambling problem, which she said had worsened during the COVID-19 period.
She maintained that she had paid for the products using her winnings, though the court heard this could not account for the full extent of the losses.
Ferguson subsequently pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud by false accounting covering the period from 1 January to 7 November 2020.
Defence barrister Verity Quaite urged the court to consider Ferguson’s clean record, telling the judge: “I’m sure you will take into account that she has no previous convictions. This is a sentence that is appropriate to suspend.”
She highlighted that Ferguson had not reoffended in the five years since and had stopped gambling entirely after leaving the shop, adding that imprisonment would significantly affect her five children.
Ferguson had been a regular customer at the shop for six or seven years before becoming an employee, and knew the owner personally
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NATIONAL LOTTERYRecorder Ben Lawrence handed down a 15-month custodial sentence suspended for 18 months, alongside 150 hours of community service.
Before sentencing, he remarked: “You abused the trust of your employer over a sustained period of time. This is a small community that both you and your victim live in. It relies on businesses like this.”
No compensation order was made.