A FINANCIAL director who swindled her own firm out of £800,000 to feed an online gambling addiction wept as she was taken to the cells.

Lauren Farr, 34, conned Cwmbran company We Fight Any Claim for more than three years while working there as a trusted senior executive.

She was remanded in custody by Judge Neil Bidder QC who told her she will be going straight to jail after she pleaded guilty to fraud.

Her crime attracts a prison term of between five to eight years, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

The defendant, of Spring Grove, Greenmeadow, Cwmbran, admitted defrauding We Fight Any Claim out of £825,751.

Her offence at the claims management company occurred between March 2016 and October 2019.

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Her sentence was adjourned until next month for a report to be prepared into her background.

But she was told it would only go towards determining how many years she will be behind bars.

Ieuan Bennett, representing mother-of-two Farr, told Cardiff Crown Court: “She has been frozen with fear and trepidation with what is going to happen to her.

“She is paralysed with anxiety. There is a back story to the defendant.”

Mr Bennett added: “She became a senior figure in her field. She has overcome a drink problem which still haunts her.

“She spent her money online with a wholescale gambling addiction. She hasn’t told her family.

“I think she is still living in something of a state of denial. I think the realisation of her inevitable future is sinking in.”

Judge Bidder told Mr Bennett about his client’s inevitable jail sentence: “She should be under no illusion.”