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18 March
2006
Woman Jailed
For Harry Hill Theft
A bank
cashier who helped conmen steal
£279,000 from comedian Harry Hill has
been sentenced to four years in
prison.
Sharmane
Dillon, from Perivale, London, passed on
confidential details about the accounts of
the comedian and other Halifax customers,
a court heard.
A total
of more than £578,000 was taken from
five people's accounts in 2004.
Dillon,
23, admitted passing on bank details
allowing cash to be transferred but denied
conspiracy to defraud. She was convicted
on one conspiracy count.
The
customer service adviser at Halifax's
Wembley branch claimed she had been
approached on three occasions by men who
wanted help accessing personal
information.
The
first two times she refused but on the
third meeting they threatened to beat her
family up if she did not
comply.
In
mitigation at Harrow Crown Court, defence
counsel Simon Molyneux said Dillon was a
victim who was susceptible to manipulation
and the threat of violence.
Mr
Molyneux said Dillon, of Woodhouse Close,
had never received, been offered, or asked
for any financial reward for her
actions.
But
Judge Susan Tapping said Dillon had been
repeatedly warned from the moment she
obtained her job as a cashier in 2003
about the consequences of revealing
confidential information and had been
given education courses on what to do
about approaches by suspicious
individuals.
After
the case, Ms Dillon's solicitor Oliver
Goldman said she was utterly devastated by
the verdict and the sentence and was
lodging an immediate appeal.
He said
she had been exploited by a ruthless gang
and had paid the ultimate
price.
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