Woman sentenced for 'mean' funeral firm thefts

A woman who stole money that families had paid for the funerals of their loved ones has been sentenced.

Margaret McNamara, 56, from Salia Avenue in Carrickfergus, admitted stealing just over £25,000 from her employers, Funeral Partners Ltd, and was placed under two years probation.

Belfast Crown Court heard the offending took place from 1 January 2020 to 31 August 2022.

Judge Gordon Kerr KC said: "These payments were from families who were burying a relative and to take that money and to lodge it into her own account is a very mean and nasty offence."

McNamara was employed as an administrator with the firm and part of the job involved taking payments from clients.

After a partner in the company discovered irregularities, a regional manager was asked to conduct a financial investigation.

It identified a total of 11 transactions where customer payments were received by the business but not banked into the business account.

McNamara was identified as the staff member responsible for failing to make payments into the business account and over a 31-month period, she stole separate amounts of money ranging from £900 to £5,000.

A disciplinary hearing took place and she was subsequently dismissed.

The matter was then reported to the police and during an interview in November 2023, McNamara made full admissions and apologised for her actions.

Crown barrister Gareth Purvis said there had been "substantial repayment" which included an initial sum of £20,000 after McNamara received an inheritance as well as £100 being paid per month.

Defence barrister Rachael McCormick confirmed this and said the amount her client still owed was about £3,000.

Noting the repayments already made by McNamara, Judge Kerr said the defendant had no previous convictions.

He spoke of marital tensions and financial woes that McNamara was under at the time which he said "may or my not have been a contributing factor to the pressure she felt under that led her to take these payments".