Minorlink Pty Ltd Boronia fraud granny Lorraine Bull jailed for $754,000 thefts

A Melbourne granny grifted $754,000 from her former Boronia boss via a bookkeeping fraud spanning more than 14 years.

Lorraine Bull pleaded guilty to multiple theft charges. Facebook.

A scoundrel grandmother who rorted $754,000 which she blew on household bills, home renovations and expensive international airfares has been jailed.

Lorraine Bull, 70, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a minimum two years’ jail after pleading guilty to nine offences including multiple rolled-up theft charges.

Bull, formerly of Kilsyth, fleeced $754,347 via 897 bogus transactions from her former employer Minorlink Pty Ltd between August 2003 and September 2017.

The former bookkeeper, who was in charge of wage management, company accounts and bank, used her position to transfer $559,559 to her personal bank accounts.

Bull masked her skulduggery by labelling the dodgy transfers as “electronic payments” and payments to third-party suppliers.

Bull siphoned $99,863 to pay off utilities including Telstra, EastLink CityLink, VicRoads, AAMI, Shell, Red Energy and Optus bills.

The fraudster also transferred more than $10,000 to cover car services for her and her family and blew more than $16,000 at Officeworks on goods including a HP computer and a Galaxy phone.

Bull splashed $23,490 on home renovations and splurged more than $10,000 on two Thai Airways airfare tickets for her and her late daughter.

Bull also diverted more than $33,000 to her daughter via bank transfers and ill-gotten blank Minorlink cheques.

The grandmother’s 14-year rort unravelled when Minorlink’s owner Jeffrey Siegman began winding down the business in late-2016.

Mr Siegman, who became “concerned about aspects of the company’s finances”, reported Bull to police in May 2017.

Mr Siegman, who wound down his former Boronia electrical contractor business, also launched civil proceedings against Bull and her ex-husband Norman Bull that same month.

Bull declared bankruptcy which stayed civil proceedings but $282,000 salvaged from her estate was repaid to Minorlink.

Bull, retired and now living in Dromana, repaid a further $120,000 from her superannuation while her husband agreed to repay a further $300,000.

Bull, who ceased employment at Minorlink in April 2017, was interviewed by police in May last year.

Bull told investigators the thefts were “largely committed” to support her daughter, the court was told.

The court heard Bull used some of the money to help her daughter overcome a heroin addiction developed after a serious car accident.

Bull’s daughter died in 2016.

The defence submitted some compassion for Bull’s personal situation could be considered by the court.

Prosecutor Jordan Johnston said moral culpability at the time of the offending was “complicated”.

“The weight that must be given to those (Verdins) considerations must be tempered by the adjective features of this offending …,” Mr Johnston said.

“This was very persistent conduct, it wasn’t conduct characterised by a single or an impulsive decision made in the exercise of impaired mind.

“This was very protracted period of offending.”

Judge Wendy Wilmoth said during sentencing that Bull’s moral culpability was “high”.

“The offending was so serious that only a jail term with a head sentence is appropriate,” Judge Wilmoth said.

Bull was jailed for a maximum four years and eight months.