Oil firm executive stole £230,000 from her company to gamble online so she could fund her fertility treatment

Shelly Reilly, 41, used company credit cards to indulge in betting sprees
Stole money from Monaco-based oil brokers Scorpio UK over 10 months
Judge sentenced her to 18 months at Southwark Crown Court today
Said behaviour was 'deplorable' but ultimately 'tragic'

PUBLISHED: 15:02 EST, 3 September 2013 | UPDATED: 20:05 EST, 3 September 2013

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Shelly Reilly stole nearly £250,000 she stole from her employer Scorpio UK

An oil executive hooked on gambling websites lost nearly £250,000 she had stolen from her employer as she tried to fund fertility treatment.

Shelly Reilly, 41, used company credit cards to indulge in late night betting sprees on websites 888 and Jackpot Joy.

The director at Monaco-based oil brokers Scorpio UK was addicted to the sites and desperately wanted to have a baby.

She stole £231,000 during a ten-month scam that began after her gambling spiralled out of control and left her swimming in debt.

Wearing glasses and a stylish black shift dress, Reilly blew a kiss to family in the public gallery as she was jailed yesterday.

Sentencing her to 18 months, Judge David Higgins said her behaviour was ‘deplorable and deeply anti-social’ but her case was ultimately ‘tragic’.

‘You did this to feed your gambling habit which was to improve your financial standing so you could have fertility treatment,’ he said.

‘The criminal conduct was premeditated, professionally planned, sustained, sophisticated and very serious.

‘Above all, of course, it was a gross breach of the trust placed in you on repeated occasions.

‘You were in a position to exploit the company resources and you took that opportunity. Your behaviour was deplorable and deeply anti-social.

‘You were feeding a private habit which itself originated from a desire to fulfil your own wishes.

‘I fear if you choose to stoop to such sustained and serious criminal wrongdoing you must accept the consequences.’

Reilly was tempted into losing huge sums during late night sessions on gambling websites by the offer of free bets, Southwark Crown Court was told.

She was soon deeply in debt and resorted to using company credit cards, including two belonging to co-workers to fuel her addiction.

The fraud came to light after she was sacked for poor performance due to her ‘late night activities’ in May 2012 and the company conducted an audit.

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Prosecutor Peter Zinner said Reilly was initially employed in March 2010 as an office manager and was later made a director so she could deal with administrative matters.

He said: ‘An investigation showed that there had been regular late night online gambling between about 2011 and 2012 it seems that Ms Reilly having been tempting into online gambling by free bets.

Sentencing Reilly to 18 months at Southwark Crown Court, Judge David Higgins said case was ultimately 'tragic'

‘Instead of the jackpot joy, it appears she ran up enormous and unsustainable losses which became completely out of control and she continued to gamble with a view to recover the losses and the losses mushroomed to that very high level.’

Her barrister Paul Spreadborough said she was ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ and has since repaid £63,000, including £7,000 in winnings.

‘The defendant saw this as effectively borrowing the money with a view to putting it back,’ he added.

‘She used the cards to bail her out from an addiction that had taken hold of her.

‘She was unable to seek help because she had already borrowed from her family and used money from her husband’s business.

‘She wanted to have children, she was unable and both her and her partner were engaged in trying to fund fertility treatment.

‘But it is something that she knew she had to pay for because of her age. That was the initial lure into gambling.

‘The company accounts was something she took to in desperation, already caught in this downhill gambling spiral.’

Reilly, of Southgate, North London, admitted six counts of fraud by abuse of position.

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I have no sympathy for her, she stole to fund her gambling habit not for fertility treatment, good the judge saw through her and gave her a jail sentence, thousands of people work overtime to fund fertility treatment, she could have had more than 20 ivf treatments at the best ivf centre in the country.

- Veronica Essex , London, United Kingdom, 04/9/2013 09:34

Click to rate Rating 45

Hogwash!..Fertility treatment isnt that expensive...and if she is telling the truth so what!..she should of had kids when mother nature intended around 18-20yrs of age..and not 41!..

- daveb , London, 04/9/2013 09:27

Click to rate Rating 19

How many babies was she planning to have - a whole regiment?

- Gladiatrix , Londinium, United Kingdom, 04/9/2013 09:23

Click to rate Rating 31

Not as much as the oil firms steel from us eh? - Winston, Imagined View of the Past, United Kingdom, 3/9/2013 ------------------------------ what a jaundiced view of life you have , we have a choice about buying fuel , she gave them no choice , should have got 8 years and you spelt steal wrong .

- J D , BIRMINGHAM UK, 04/9/2013 09:03

Click to rate Rating 13

I don't agree with this, but at least she was doing it for a worth while cause, not spending it on cars and holidays like you see other idiots doing. - Ethan , Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, 03/9/2013 22:02________Online gambling is a worthwhile cause? Seriously?

- Stephen , Bolton, United Kingdom, 04/9/2013 08:51

Click to rate Rating 23

She stole 230k end of. What a load of blubbering about fertility. How can she have any winnings if she lost so much? That is how so many gamblers lie to themselves, they remember winning 7000 but forget they lost 220000 to win it!

- alf442 , muscat, Oman, 04/9/2013 08:42

Click to rate Rating 20

Scorpio is NOT an oil trader....it is a ship operator/owner, please get your facts right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- bigbo1975 , london, United Kingdom, 04/9/2013 08:36

Click to rate Rating 9

This story does not make sense, but then again it is the DM. if she had stolen the money for fertility treatment why did she waste it on gambling? Was the fertility story just to make people feel sorry for her?

- mecmac , dunedin, 04/9/2013 08:31

Click to rate Rating 17

To the comments which say why didnt she just use the stolen money to pay for IVF obviously havent read the story properly nor have an understanding of the case , her plan was to borrow from the cards and with her winnings pay back onto the cards and have enough left over for IVF. Gambling is a very sad addiction, and the fact that it can now be done 24/7 in your own home is going to cause a lot more cases like this going forward.

- youthinkyouknow , london, 04/9/2013 08:27

Click to rate Rating 1

18 months out after 10 for £213,000 not bad hours for that kind of money, but I am sure that if I walked into a bank and stole that kind of money I would be serving a longer sentence after all theft is theft.

- Dave , Merseyside, 04/9/2013 08:01

Click to rate Rating 15

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