Kirsty Payne, a 44-year-old chartered accountant, has been jailed for stealing more than £40,000 from her employer, Marshall Thermo King, to pay for a ski trip in the French Alps. Payne, who earned approximately £80,000 annually, committed the fraud in February 2025, overpaying suppliers by £40,383 and directing the excess funds to a family member's account.
Peterborough Crown Court heard that Payne admitted to police that the money was spent on the holiday. Social media posts from March of the same year showed Payne posing in an Alpine landscape. Her Facebook profile picture in March 2026 featured her on a ski lift with family members.
Payne was already under a suspended sentence for a previous fraud offense when she committed this latest crime. She pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court in July. The sentence of 18 months was comprised of 10 months for the new fraud and the remainder for breaching her suspended sentence.
During a wellbeing check in April 2025, Payne admitted to her employer that she had taken the money. She initially claimed it was for a family member's medical treatment and that the funds were no longer available. However, she later confessed to police the money was used for the ski trip, describing the act as a "spur of the moment" decision.
Payne cited mental health struggles and a family member's terminal illness as contributing factors, though she could not fully explain her actions. Detective Constable Valentin Radulescu of Cambridgeshire Police commented that Payne had shown little regard for the impact of her actions and that her repeat offense was viewed negatively by the court. He expressed hope that her time in prison would lead to reflection and serve as a warning to others.
This is not Payne's only brush with financial misconduct. She was disqualified from being a company director for 11 years in February 2025 following an investigation into her conduct as finance director at Media Matters (Peterborough) Limited. Between June and August 2022, she raised 30 false invoices totaling £327,031. The company entered liquidation in 2023, with debts exceeding £1.3 million. Payne was declared bankrupt in August 2024.