Southampton woman jailed for stealing almost £94,000 from cancer charity she worked at

A Southampton woman has been jailed for stealing almost £94,000 from a cancer charity she worked at.

Paula Tribbeck, 48, from Broadlands Road, Southampton, appeared at Southampton Crown Court on 28 October having pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position in September.

She has been jailed for two years.

Tribbeck worked for the Wessex Cancer Trust for 27 years and was a manager in the financial department, giving her access to several of the charity’s bank accounts.

Between 2013 and December 2019, she stole an estimated £93,813 by making multiple transactions from these accounts to her own, using names of suppliers the charity paid to cover her tracks.

In August 2019, a staff member brought in to audit the financial department noticed discrepancies on their systems and asked Tribbeck about this, to which she then became emotional and blamed it on her personal life.

Following further internal investigation, Tribbeck eventually handed in her notice ahead of a disciplinary hearing in January 2020 and was arrested in June that year.

A search of her property found invoices from the charity stuffed in multiple bags in the back of a wardrobe.

During her interview Tribbeck admitted her crimes, stating it had become an ‘addiction’ and that no-one else knew what she was doing.

DC Daryanne Ryan from Western Investigations said: “Tribbeck abused her position of authority to steal money which should have gone towards helping people experiencing the worst time of their lives.

“While she has shown remorse and wishes to repay the money she stole from the Trust, her selfish actions left the charity in a very difficult situation.

“I am glad we were able to bring Tribbeck to court to face justice and hope this reassures the community that we take fraud seriously.”