A WOMAN who stole almost £160,000 from a global shipping company to take her boyfriend on luxury holidays has been ordered to repay less than £10,000.
Caroline Woollen tricked her Danish employer Nordic Offshore into believing she had landed lucrative contracts with major firms, including Shell and Siemens.
Her bosses authorised the payment of £159,000 to Woollen, their UK manager, believing she was using the money to pay workers to carry out the contracts.
Instead, Woollen was using the stolen cash to buy her boyfriend a campervan and take him on exclusive skiing trips and luxury holidays to stop him leaving her.
Now, although Judge David Tremberg has ruled Woollen, 33, made £158,634 from her crimes, she has only been ordered to repay £9,240 because she has spent all the stolen money and has no other assets.
The court has ordered she pays the money directly to Nordic Offshore as compensation within 28 days or face six months in prison under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Woollen, of Springfield Avenue, Brough, pleaded guilty to fraud between April 2011 and May last year.
She was charged with stealing £387,609.13 but pleaded guilty to stealing £159,000.
Hull Crown Court heard Woollen, who had been drinking up to three bottles of wine a night, was a fantasist who led a "Walter Mitty existence".
Her barrister, Anil Murray, previously said: "She wanted to be loved by her partner. She wanted to please him.
"Once this offending was uncovered, her partner left her.
"She is a broken woman."
The court heard Woollen even lied to her family about her accomplishments, claiming she was at drama school and college when both were untrue.
Woollen had previously defrauded a different company in 2010 and had been convicted of writing a false invoice.
Nordic Offshore, which supplies skilled personnel to the offshore industry, was unaware of her previous convictions when she secured a job with them after pretending she had excellent contacts with Siemens and Shell.
Her first task was to apply to the UK Border Agency for a licence allowing the firm's employees to work in the UK, but she failed to make the approach.
She lied to her employers, creating fictitious emails pretending she had.
Woollen then said she had obtained contracts with major firms, requesting thousands of pounds, which she claimed she needed to pay contractors.
Prosecutor Jharna Jobes said: "She admitted all of this offending and said she was trying to impress her boyfriend and her family.
"She went on skiing holidays, funded a £10,000 holiday to Canada with her boyfriend and talked about all the parties she had attended using company money."
Woollen was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended for two years, was ordered to attend an alcohol treatment course and carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Simon Jack told her: "You are a victim of your own personality and your need to please those around you."
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