http://www.metro.co.uk/news/838105-double-life-cashier-stole-1-7million-from-law-firm

A cash handler who led a secret life faces a lengthy jail term for stealing £1.7million from a law firm.

Louise Martini conned her husband into thinking she was a £70,000-a-year accountant but in fact had a £20,000 salary, the court heard.

She raided the accounts of the firm she worked for and used the stolen money to help prop up her husband’s businesses and buy expensive clothes and cars, jurors were told.

Martini, 36, worked for the business for 17 years and created the pretence of being an accountant to help explain her wealth, it was claimed.

Her husband had been charged with laundering some of the stolen money but the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed that all counts against the company director will be dropped.

A spokesman for Williamson & Soden, which has offices in Birmingham city centre and Shirley, West Midlands, said Martini’s deceit had been a ‘huge shock’ to the firm.

‘The operations of the firm have continued unaffected since we discovered the theft in February 2009,’ said Ian Williamson, one of the partners in the law firm.

‘We were, and are, fully insured and have worked closely with our insurers and the police from the beginning.’

He added: ‘The funds were completely restored to us within a short time of the theft being discovered, and we are looking to the future with confidence, having put the matter well behind us.’

Martini, of Solihull, West Midlands, pleaded guilty to theft of £1,634,582 and money-laundering at Gloucester Crown Court. She is due to be sentenced at a later date.