DETECTIVES who probed fraud allegations against Suki Smith said her two year jail sentence proved crime did not pay.

Freelance Haydon Wick accountant Smith pleaded guilty to stealing almost £400,000 from the property firm whose books she kept.

Det Sgt Marc Milliner of Avon and Somerset Police’s complex crime unit, said: “We received an allegation of theft from Farleigh Properties Ltd, which had been picked up by the company’s new financial controller when he reviewed the company’s finances.

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“We launched an enquiry and quickly identified Suki Smith – a freelance accountant who had been working with Farleigh - as the person who had transferred funds from the company into her own account.

“Whilst she made significant efforts to disguise the payments, we were able to attribute all the payments to her."

He concluded: “This case shows that fraud does not pay, offenders will be tracked down and before the courts.”