Convicted fraudster Louise Lyel avoids jail after stealing from Moss Vale shop

A convicted fraudster who once stole $70,000 from her employer ‘knocked off things she didn’t need’ from a Southern Highlands boutique before driving off in her silver Land Rover.

A convicted fraudster who stole tens of thousands of dollars from her employer in Berrima has avoided jail for stealing from a shop in Moss Vale.

Louise Lyel (also known as Louise Convy), 56, appeared in Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to larceny.

The court heard the Robertson resident, who has cropped her blonde locks short, was on parole for “dishonesty offences” when she walked into Moss Vale shop Bowerbird on the morning of July 9.

According to the court documents, CCTV footage inside the store captured Lyel approaching the reading glasses stand, picking up two pairs of glasses, and placing them in her jacket pocket. The facts state Lyel then walked out of the store without attempting to pay and drove away in her silver Land Rover, which had been parked on Argyle St.

Louise Lyel was found guilty of stealing hundreds of dollars worth of goods from a Moss Vale store. Picture: Brett Faulkner

When the owner of the store noticed the glasses were missing, he checked the surveillance and saw Lyel steal the glasses, which are valued at $298. He recognised her as a frequent local customer and altered police.

Lyel was arrested by police five days later but she denied even entering the store, despite the CCTV footage. The court heard Lyel had suffered a manic episode at the time of the offence and remembered very little of the theft.

Magistrate Mark Douglass said the “persuasive reports” submitted to the court showed Lyel clearly wasn’t thinking clearly.

“She went into a shop and knocked off things she didn’t need and had money to pay for,” he said.

“She lives with bipolar, and like many who live with bipolar, think they’re well and think they’re good and then go off their medications.”

Court documents reveal Lyel was on parole after she was convicted for multiple charges of dishonestly gaining financial advantage, dishonestly gaining property by deception, and a charge of larceny.

Lyel was convicted for defrauding $74,000 from her former employer in April. The court heard she served a backdated term of imprisonment for the offences and was released on parole the same month.

Louise Lyel, also known as Louise Convy, leaving Moss Vale Court on October 19.

According to the court documents, Lyel’s sentence was completed on September 2, just days before her court appearance for the fresh charge of larceny.

Magistrate Douglass sentenced the Robertson woman to a 18-month community corrections order, “given (her) history”.

As well as paying compensation for the stolen glasses, the magistrate ordered Lyel to comply with a mental health assessment and treatment as directed and to stay on her medications, which the court heard she had stopped taking at the time of the theft.

“You have to stay managed. You can’t keep committing offences,” Magistrate Douglass told Lyel.