Bridgett Jones jailed for a further 12 months for fraud

A SERIAL Melbourne fraudster who shares her name with one of Hollywood’s most famous characters has been given an extra 12 months in jail for fleecing her former employer out of a six-figure sum.

Renee Zellweger in a scene from the film Bridget Jones's Baby.

A PROLIFIC fraudster who shares her moniker with a famous Hollywood character will be doing serious jail time if she is so much as caught stealing a “box of matches from Woolworths”, a judge has warned.

Bridgett Jones is already behind bars after she was last month jailed for 12 months for theft and fraud-related offences.

Serial fraudster Bridget Jones locked up for a year

Jones fleeced former employer, Ultro Constructions and Recruitment Pty Ltd, out of almost $100,000 via a series of dodgy transactions between February and November 2016, when she was the company’s payroll and accounts manager.

The serial shyster swindled $47,056.57 by directly transferring money into a personal bank account on 31 occasions.

She also fattened her personal bank account with $34,906.94 via 20 fabricated payments to non-existent subcontractors.

Jones also transferred $5,383.25 to a second personal bank account through three false payments to fictitious business RW Plaster.

Jones also lied about her income when she applied for and was granted a home loan by the Westpac Bank to buy a Cheltenham house worth almost $1 million.

When caught she told police Ultro Constructions management had forced her to make the dodgy transactions but this claim was investigated and dismissed.

Victorian County Court Judge Liz Gaynor said she would have sentenced Jones to a maximum of four years had the Ultro Constructions and Premium Floors matters been heard together.

“In some ways, it is fortunate for you that the two matters have been heard separately,” Judge Gaynor said.

Due to her priors, Jones won’t be released until December 2019, when she will begin a three-year Community Corrections Order.

Judge Gaynor said Jones would be “dragged back to court and re-sentenced” if she was caught doing anything “such as knocking off a box of matches from Woolworths”.

The Office of Corrections said Jones, who has a long record of financial deception, was at a “high risk of reoffending”.

In 2017, she was jailed for 12 months after she stole more than $240,000 from another former employer, Premium Floors, in 2015.

In 2014, Jones was given a suspended sentence for 66 charges of unlawful use of company credit cards issued when she was working as a bookkeeper at another employer.

In 2007, Jones was placed on a community-based order after she altered a payout cheque she had received from an unfair dismissal from $400 to $4,000.

In 2006, she was pinched for theft after she accessed credit card details obtained while working for Pizza Hut.

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