Tuesday 25th August, 2015

A London Underground worker from Croydon has admitted receiving £100,000 from the Welsh assembly after officials were duped in to believing they were paying for cleaning services.

The Welsh assembly made six payments to Tracey Baker, between October 2013 and June 2014.

Baker, pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to acquiring criminal property, a further charge of fraud by false representation will lie on file.

She denied writing the false letter claiming that the contractor working for the assembly had changed their business bank details.

Judge Jeremy Gold said, "The court heard officials were tricked in to transferring the money to her account after receiving what turned out to be a false letter claiming that Total Support Services' bank details had changed."

But the new account belonged to Baker who pocketed a total of just under £104,000.

Baker will be sentenced in September.

An assembly spokesman said the incident was an isolated one and the Assembly Commission had strengthened its controls to ensure similar crimes would be prevented.