Property tycoon’s PA, 35, who stole from boss to pay for her addiction to Candy Crush spared jail

A property tycoon’s PA who stole £8,000 from her boss to pay for her addiction to Candy Crush and other gaming apps has been spared jail.

Hollie Johnson, 35, was spending a fortune on ‘boosters’ which help players get to the next level of a game.

She pilfered £8,830 from Joey Esfandi, chief executive of Dwyer Estates, before she was caught.

Mr Esfandi is behind the sale of some of Britain’s grandest homes, including £65m Athlone House on the edge of Hampstead Heath in northwest London.

He trusted Johnson to handle his personal finances and gave her access to company credit cards.

Jason Seetal, prosecuting, said: ‘This defendant was hired to be the personal assistant for Mr Esfandi who was the chairman of a property company named Dwyer.

‘She began employment in February last year and she had a duty to maintaining his diaries as well as managing personal finances and business finances.

‘As part of those duties she was given access to Mr Esfandi’s online financial accounts, the company profiles and also a credit card of an ex-employee which she was instructed to cancel. That card was not cancelled.

‘Mr Esfandi became concerned about some transactions that were made on business credit card there were also inconsistencies, namely transactions that weren’t tallied up.

‘Some of these transactions have been investigated and in total £11,500 worth of transactions were made which were not authorised.

‘They are purchases on an iTunes account for applications such as Candy Crush.

‘He had a conversation around September with the defendant to discuss some of the finances.

‘When he tried to have this conversation he says she didn’t seem to understand where the money had gone.

‘He therefore felt it was more a case of incompetence rather than criminal offending however it’s come to light that she used the company card for personal use.’

Helena Duong, defending, said: ‘This, of course, is a serious offence where she acknowledges she breached her position of trust in effectively scamming from her employer who had entrusted her with the use of the company credit card.’

Ms Duong said Johnson expressed remorse as soon as she was confronted about her actions.

The court heard that the probation officer who assessed Johnson said she had expressed ‘impressive insight’.

‘She doesn’t put the criminal offence down to simply the depression or the bad things that have happened.

‘She acknowledges it was her privileged background which contributed to her offending,’ said Ms Duong.

‘This is someone who has expressed remorse at an early stage and has tried to engage not just with what she did but also on a detailed level.

‘She did make genuine attempts with the police to try to identify which transactions she was responsible for.’

She said Johnson, who is now jobless, wished to apologise to her former employer and intended to repay him everything she stole.

‘She is fortunate to have the support of her partner who is able to loan her the sums of money to repay it,’ added Ms Duong.

Judge Joanna Korner said: ‘Looking at you in the dock I have no doubt you appreciate the seriousness of your position today.

‘It is a serious offence when those in positions of trust and responsibility abuse that trust and responsibility, as you did for a number of months in the last year.

‘When your employer entrusted you with the use of company credit cards and you used it to buy luxury goods for yourself.’

But the judge decided to suspend Johnson’s sentence due to her early admission and ‘obvious remorse’.

Johnson, who appeared in court wearing black trousers and a black blouse, fought back tears when she heard she would be spared jail.

She was given a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years, with a 150-hour unpaid work requirement.

Johnson, of Chiswick, west London was also ordered to pay £8,830 in compensation as well as £350 in costs.

She admitted one count of fraud by abuse of position.