Worcester nursery boss: I'll never forgive friend who stole £100k from me while I had breast cancer

Jane Myhill was a trusted friend and confidante of Alice Bennett MBE for more than 20 years, working as the bursar for Worcester and Madresfield Early Years Centres where she was 'well paid' for her role.

However, the greedy 55-year-old 'Christian' rewarded Mrs Bennett's generosity and loyalty by stealing from her when she was at a low ebb in her life.

The grieving founder of the successful nurseries had lost both her parents and had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

In Easter 2017, during the period of the thefts, Mrs Bennett was diagnosed with breast cancer in the morning and attended her mother's funeral in the afternoon, all of which Myhill would have known.

As previously reported, Myhill stole £102,000 from the award-winning children's day care nurseries. Opened in 1994, the Madresfield centre has received six outstanding OFSTED reports.

The Worcester centre, located in Malvern Road, Lower Wick, was opened in 2015 on a working dairy farm and received an outstanding OSFTED report in April 2018.

Mrs Bennett even created a plush new office specifically for Myhill at the Worcester centre although her employer became increasingly suspicious when the door was often kept closed.

Myhill appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court last week where she admitted theft by employee which involved £27,456. This occurred between April 14, 2015 and August 31, 2019.

Myhill further admitted theft in Malvern between January 1, 2015 and October 1, 2019, this time involving £74,721, also stolen from Mrs Bennett.

Mrs Bennett, who had trusted Myhill completely and accepts she had been preoccupied with her personal problems, said: "I feel utterly, utterly betrayed because I was a good employer to her for over 20 years.

"I looked after her. At the particular time of these thefts I was struggling for my life against breast cancer. Just when I needed her the most, when I trusted her, she took advantage the situation horrifically. In my hour of need, when I needed her the most, she betrayed me big time. The sense of betrayal for all my staff has also been overwhelming."

The 65-year-old said Myhill had been given a beautiful new office in Worcester. Mrs Bennett says she also provided emotional support to her when the defendant's father died, when she had a skiing accident and when she encountered other personal problems.

When the thefts happened Mrs Bennett was still grieving after losing both her parents, her chartered accountant father Elmer Cookson in 2014 and her mother Mary Cookson in 2017.

Her breast cancer treatment required a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It was at this time, Mrs Bennett says, that Myhill started to steal such large sums.

When she returned to work after treatment, Mrs Bennett, a mother-of-four and grandmother-of-five, felt ill and weak but also 'aware that something was wrong' when she saw Myhill.

"I could not put my finger on it but our relationship had changed. I think it was the guilt eating away at her" said Mrs Bennett.

Little did she imagine that her close friend was stealing from her on such a large scale, using the interface between the software that produced the invoices and the Sage accounting system to fiddle the books and siphon off the cash to line her own pockets.

Mrs Bennett described how Myhill was a Christian who attended Malvern Priory but that her former friend had used her Christianity as 'a cloak', spreading gossip about Mrs Bennett being a bad employer.

Mrs Bennett added: "She has shown a total lack of remorse. This woman just took advantage. That's why I can never forgive her."

Suspicions were confirmed when Myhill did not pay a sum of money into the bank after it arrived at the Worcester office. When challenged, the defendant 'stormed out' in what Mrs Bennett described as a 'humiliating shouting session'. Myhill branded her employer 'a bully' said Mrs Bennett who described her former employee's behaviour towards her as 'horrid'.

Myhill also refused to hand over the key to her desk so Mrs Bennett had her handyman break it open.

When forensic accountants were brought in, Mrs Bennett was told that Myhill left the 'perfect digital footprint of her crimes' on the accounting system Sage, a system the business no longer uses.

Mrs Bennett, who now has a new accountant, insists there were checks and balances and that Myhill's control was always restricted to the current account with no access to payroll or the management accounts.

When confronted with the evidence of her thefts at a later meeting in September 2019, Myhill admitted 'everything' which led to her instant dismissal.

"She had the cash in her handbag and threw it back at us. It was about £650" said Mrs Bennett.

Last Thursday magistrates were told by Myhill's advocate that the thief intends to pay the money back.

In response Mrs Bennett said the business could 'do with the money back as soon as possible' as the business has suffered because of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.

Myhill also stole the cash at a time when the fledgling Worcester branch of the business was still making a loss because it was so new.

"The Worcester business was only three months old and she was already stealing from it. She had many, many devices for taking the money. It was like running another business for her. She was very clever and skilful. That's why she is so dangerous. She is very plausible, very manipulative."

Myhill was living in Cowleigh Road, Malvern. However, her new address was given in court as The Croft in Cromer, Norfolk.

Now that Myhill has moved to a new area, Mrs Bennett says she wants people there to be aware of what she is capable of.

"I don't want anyone else to take her on and do the same to them and suffer in the same way we have," she said.

Mrs Bennet understands that Myhill invested in Bitcoin and paid for luxury goods from upmarket companies using the stolen cash. To rub salt in the wound Myhill even showed Mrs Bennett around a kitchen that she now believes was paid for using cash stolen from her.

"She seemed to delight in making other people jealous of how much she had" said Mrs Bennett.

However, despite the financial loss and the effect of Covid-19, Mrs Bennett says the business is resilient well-managed and sustainable which she attributes to her 'family of amazing staff'.

With an annual turnover of £2million, the business employs 120 staff across both centres and 400 families rely on the services they offer. Despite the shock of what happened Mrs Bennett insists she is more enthusiastic than ever about education.

"I love it. It's my passion and my life's work. My passion is to change children's lives, to give them the best start that I can," she said.