Builders Wife Funnelled More Than £5K from Husband’s Business to Fund Online Bingo Habit

It’s not every day you hear of a wife stealing from her husband and what makes this story even more unbelievable is the fact the woman was funnelling cash from his business account right from under his nose for a long period of time, but she wasn’t in desperate need for anything, so why did she do it?

Denise Postgate from Darlington had devised a plan to fuel her bingo habit; a foolproof plan she though. Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court heard the builders wife contacted customers and had requested payments upfront and whilst you may be thinking this isn’t an unusual request for a building firm as the majority of tradesmen require partial payment before the work is done, what we tell you next may surprise you…

…the opportunist bingo player requested payment be made into her own bank and produced her personal banking details and this is when alarm bells started to ring!

Wife Interceptor

Denise had this very elaborate plan of not only stealing money from her husband and his loyal customers, but she also knew how to intercept calls with a querying nature. When customers tried to get hold of Gary (her husband) to ask when the work in which they paid for would be carried out, Denise told them his van had broken or that family members had been arrested and at one point, she even told customers that Gary was in hospital with a “serious and potentially life-threatening illness.”

Lee Poppett prosecuting told the court how three victims paid Denise more than £5000 within a two-month period; between October to December last year and two of those had a very trusting relationship with Mr Postgate what with him completing work for them in the past.

Lee Poppett said: “One complainant has known Gary for a number of years and had built up a great deal of trust with him. She approached him for a quote for work to be carried out on rental properties and Mrs Postgate contacted her and told her that a proportion of the money would need to be paid up front to cover materials. She paid £1,500 to Mrs Postgate and agreed a date for the work to be completed.”

The prosecutor continued: “Despite trying on a number of occasions to contact Mr Postgate, her calls never seemed to connect. She did eventually contact Mrs Postgate via text message who came up with a number of reasons why the work had not yet been completed.”

What’s His is Mine

One victim who coughed up cash for work not to be carried out, was genuinely worried when hearing Mr Postgate was in a critical condition in hospital (which was all lies) so contacted Denise and she informed the victim that another builder would carry out the work, but when he requested for materials to be handed to the new builder, he was met with excuses…

…off he went to Mr Postgate’s home for the materials only to find the supposedly seriously ill patient at home! “It’s fair to say that he was truly shocked because he had never been paid – unfortunately the money had been paid to Mrs Postgate” said the prosecution.

In a surprising turn of events, the court heard the married couple were financial stable and that Mrs Postgate had her own money! In 2015, Denise lost her mother and was unable to cope with grief. She was introduced to the world of online bingo and casino games and turned to gambling as a way to escape her grief.

Many Reasons Why

Jeff Taylor, mitigating said: “She says she found it difficult to talk about her feelings and when she was introduced to online bingo websites in 2016, she found some release on there. She went online and found that she was able to lose herself for periods of time. You would not ordinarily associate bingo with gambling or huge losses.”

Needless to say, the actions of Mrs Postgate have caused huge rifts in the family with her daughters now not speaking to her because of the impact it’s had on their father. Denise of Lingfield Green, Darlington, UK was handed an 18-month community order with 25 rehabilitation activity days. A victim surcharge of £85 must be paid along with £85 for court costs, which is hardly going to break the bank.