{"id":5748,"date":"2025-06-03T16:46:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T16:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/?p=5748"},"modified":"2025-06-03T16:46:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T16:46:40","slug":"fraudster-ordered-to-pay-back-80k-to-contractors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/fraudster-ordered-to-pay-back-80k-to-contractors\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraudster ordered to pay back \u00a380k to contractors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A former office worker jailed for defrauding two construction companies has been ordered to pay back more than \u00a380,000 under Proceeds of Crime laws.<\/p>\n<p>Stephanni Houston, 41, of Ayr, was sentenced to 38 months in prison in November 2023 for embezzling over \u00a3516,000 from two construction companies over four years.<\/p>\n<p>Kilmarnock Sheriff Court made a confiscation order in the sum of \u00a381,589.86 and recorded that the benefit of criminal conduct was \u00a3516,268.98.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"474739\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrilliantideasltd.co.uk%2Falimats%2F%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/6507-BI---Alimats-MPU---Constuction-Enquirer_01_s2.gif\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The confiscation order can be revisited if further assets are identified in the future to be paid towards the full amount that was determined as the benefit of the crime.<\/p>\n<p>Houston, also known as Bryden, was convicted at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court after she admitted embezzling \u00a3253,281.30 while working as an office administrator at Kelburn Construction in Kilmarnock from February 2017 to January 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Months later she started embezzling \u00a3262,987.68 while working as a bookkeeper for WM Donnelly and Co Ltd in East Kilbride, taking the cash between May 2019, and March 2021.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"497471\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmastersonholdings.co.uk%2Fprecast%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/GETJAR_PRECAST_MPU_V3.gif\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A compensation order in the sum of \u00a341,610.83 was awarded to Wm Donnelly and Co Ltd. A second compensation order in the sum of \u00a339,979.03, was awarded to Kelburn Construction.<\/p>\n<p>Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal for Serious Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: \u201cThis confiscation underscores the fact that prosecution of those involved in financial crime does not stop at criminal conviction and sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven after that conviction was secured, the Crown pursued Proceeds of Crime action to ensure the funds Stephanni Houston obtained illegally were confiscated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConfiscation orders have ongoing financial consequences, meaning we can seek to recover further assets from this individual in the future to reflect the full amount.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"158465\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.agd-equipment.co.uk%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/AGD-ADVERT-2023.gif\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"498294\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ursainside.co.uk%2Fcontact%2F%3Futm_source%3DCE%26utm_medium%3DMPU%26utm_campaign%3Dursainside%26utm_content%3Djune%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/50355 URSA CE Re-Skin MPU V2.gif\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>from Construction Enquirer https:\/\/ift.tt\/Q3Bckdj<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former office worker jailed for defrauding two construction companies has been ordered to pay back more than \u00a380,000 under Proceeds of Crime laws. Stephanni Houston, 41, of Ayr, was sentenced to 38 months in prison in November 2023 for embezzling over \u00a3516,000 from two construction companies over four years. Kilmarnock Sheriff Court made a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-5748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-construction-enquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5749,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748\/revisions\/5749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}