19-year-old accused of fraud and theft while employed at Heswall’s Woolworths

Oct 29 2008 by Matt Hurst, Heswall News

THE grand-daughter of Liver Birds co-creator Carla Lane appeared before court to answer almost £2,000 combined fraud and theft charges while employed at Heswall Woolworths.

Hannah Hollins, of Whitehouse Lane, Heswall, was in tears as the vast list of offences alleged to have been carried out was read to Birkenhead magistrates on Friday.

In total, the 19-year-old faces 41 charges of either committing fraud by false representation or theft, between January and September this year.

The 21 fraud by false representation allegations centre on misuse of the refund facility, with goods that had not been bought appearing as “returns” on the till roll.

The 20 theft charges relate to occasions where cash was taken, with values regularly corresponding directly to refunded items.

Hannah Hollins had been employed by Woolworths, in Telegraph Road, Heswall, since October 2005.

Prosecuting, David Rigg told Birkenhead Magistrates’ Court: “On May 10, concerns were raised by head office about the number of refunds to cash carried out by Miss Hollins, in relation to goods returned as ‘unsuitable’.

“As a result, the manager discovered that 89.49% of refunds were returned as ‘unsuitable’.

“He carried out a stock check on goods and found the stock count was higher than the number of items in stock because no item had been returned to stock.”

Miss Hollins, the grand-daughter of Bread and Liver Birds co-creator, Carla Lane, is alleged to have returned items ranging from a pink Nintendo DS Lite, valued at £99.99, to Pro Evolution football and Beijing 2008 computer games, valued at £44.99 and £39.99 respectively, and a Samsung G600 mobile phone, valued at £149.99, to two shirts, valued at £11.

She also stands accused of taking cash from Woolworths, ranging in value from £10 to £150, with the first incident said to have taken place on January 6 and the final incident on September 2.

Defending, John Hinchcliffe said his client would not be entering a formal guilty plea but would be likely to plead guilty to most charges, denying only the five over £100 in value.

Hannah Hollins will appear at Birkenhead Magistrates’ Court again on December 18 for committal to Liverpool Crown Court.

Wirral News spoke to Carla Lane who confirmed that it was her grand-daughter but did not wish to comment further.