Camden New Journal - News: Housing boss is jailed for thefts

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Camden New Journal - by TOM FOOT
Published: 6 March 2008

Housing boss is jailed for thefts

Woman stole £63,000 from her tenants

A HOUSING officer who swindled tenants out of more than £60,000 has been jailed for nine months.
Jannette Harris, who was manager of 250 flats owned by the Crown Estate housing association on the Cumberland Market estate, Regent’s Park, pleaded guilty to 34 charges of deception and theft amounting to £63,721 over a three-year period.
The 50-year-old, from Tower Hamlets, who has a gambling addiction, was sentenced on Friday at Southwark Crown Court.
Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said Harris had “seriously abused her position” in stealing from “some of the most vulnerable and anxious”.
“You were said to be depressed and probably did this to feed your gambling habits,” he said.
“I am convinced that a custodial sentence is appropriate and I believe the right sentence is nine months. You will serve only half of that if you avoid trouble over that period.”
The court heard how Harris had told prospective tenants to pay her cash deposits, which she pocketed. She also encouraged sitting tenants falling behind with rent to pay cash sums directly to her.
At an earlier committal, Harris’s legal team had claimed she should not be sent to prison because she was caring for her 25-year-old son who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
But the court heard from his GP that he had overcome the disease and had not visited him for medical treatment in more than five years.
Judge Rivlin told Harris: “It seemed most important to me to hear some authoritative information on your son’s condition.
“I am told no medical reports are available and that your son has not suffered any symptoms for five to six years.
“What I can say is that it is now crystal clear that he does not need you to care for him.”
Victims of the thefts are still waiting for their money to be returned and many haven fallen into arrears as a result of the scam.
After Friday’s hearing, Detective Inspector PC Graheme MacFarland said: “This was a methodical and well thought through swindle that caused a lot of distress and anxiety to the tenants of the Crown Estate.”
Mr Rivlin told the court clerk to issue a special commendation to the inspector.
He said: “He has done an excellent job.
“The losers are the housing association. I am sorry they are the losers, but they must be applauded for acting as they have done.”

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