A former Finance Manager at a GP surgery in Bracknell, Berkshire, was sentenced to three years and two months in jail on 2 April after pleading guilty to multiple counts of fraud and concealing criminal property.

Lauren Millington worked for the GP practice between February 2021 and November 2024. During that time, she fraudulently diverted more than £450,000 from her employer into her own accounts and into one owned by her accomplice, Roger Happe.

Thames Valley Police were alerted after the practice reported concerns about irregular payments that appeared to have been made to external medical suppliers.

The investigation found that Millington had created fake invoices and manipulated company systems to conceal the theft, altering suppliers’ banking details so their payments were deposited directly into her or Happe’s accounts.

For his part in the fraud, Happe received more than £25,000 for receiving and concealing the funds.

He also pleaded guilty and received a nine-month suspended sentence and 100 hours of community service.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Detective Inspector Duncan Wynn, Head of the Central Fraud Unit at Thames Valley, said that Millington had systematically abused her position to defraud her unsuspecting employer of significant funds, leaving a huge hole in much-needed public finances.

Roger Isaacs, Forensics Partner at Milsted Langdon, said: “Most employee frauds start with the theft of small sums often even with a genuine intention to return “borrowed” monies. However, once an individual realises that a control can be bypassed and the theft has gone undiscovered there can be a tendency to steal on a larger scale. 

“In many instances, the fraud may not even be particularly sophisticated.

“False invoices and unauthorised changes to supplier bank details are common methods in and they almost always leave a trace. What is extraordinary is why the fraudsters never seem to plan an escape strategy, so their discovery becomes almost inevitable as they steal ever greater amounts as time goes by.”

Sources: Thames Valley Police