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A court has heard how a former finance manager who defrauded her employer out of almost £350,000 spent most of the money on an “enormous” cocaine habit.
Rachel Louise Bower is now beginning three years in prison for what was described in Bradford Crown Court as “an appalling abuse of trust”.
Prosecutor Ciara Church said Bower, 50, of Boyne Street, Halifax, had worked for Viking Industrial Products Ltd in Keighley from January 2019 to August 2025, when she was made redundant.
147 unauthorised payments to her own bank accounts
It was only after she left the company that an investigation into an unpaid invoice precipitated a much larger probe that revealed Bower had made 147 unauthorised payments to her own bank accounts totalling more than £348,000.
The court heard that no one checked the payments that Bower made, and the disguised fraudulent spending, spanning almost three years between November 2022 and August 2025, went unnoticed.
Miss Church said Bower was subject to a court order for repayment of the full amount that she stole, but that only £250 had been recovered.
Cocaine habit developed during Covid
Bower, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.
Mitigating, Mark Foley said Bower had worked as a financial manager for a couple of years before the offending occurred but during the Covid pandemic she “acquired an ultimately very significant cocaine habit having been introduced to that drug by her then-partner.”
The pair later married but are now estranged.
How it happened
Mr Foley said: “The offending involved the taking of money – just short of £350,000 – and her explanation is that that was exclusively money spent on the purchase of cocaine.”
He said banks records showed that transfers of money to her accounts were followed by withdrawals of cash.
He said Bower suffered a deviated septum caused by her cocaine habit, which “worked out at about £350 a day.”
Mr Foley said Bower also suffered from acute anxiety and depression during that period and was treated in hospital as an in-patient.
She also slept at her workplace on three to four nights a week, was using cocaine at work and, said Mr Foley, “funding his [her partner’s] habit.”
Left with just £8.36 in her account
The court heard that Bower had bought a caravan after the offending period, but Mr Foley said Bower had borrowed money from a relative which she later repaid by withdrawing more than £40,000 from a pension pot.
He said that as of July 31, 2025, Bower had just £8.36 in her bank account.
He said: “There is no evidence of high living, or extravagant living.
“The evidence from the bank accounts, and her explanation, has always been that this has been theft to finance an acute and serious cocaine addiction which has ultimately and very adversely affected her health.”
He added: “She was living a very isolated life which involved fantastically high volumes of cocaine use.”
Bower was said to have lost her job, good character, employability, marriage, and home, and suffered “deep shame”.
Mr Foley said: “Financially her downfall has been complete,” and that Bower was living in shared accommodation with four other people.
'Appalling abuse of trust'
The court heard that she was drug-free but vulnerable and fragile as a result of her previous addiction and had also suffered from a brain tumour.
Sentencing Bower to 36 months’ imprisonment, Mr Recorder Paul Reid said she had sole access to the bank accounts and that no one supervised her, took notice of what she was doing, or checked her figures.
He described her behaviour as “an appalling abuse of trust.”
He said: “This company has suffered an enormous loss.
"Instead of making a profit of hundreds of thousands of pounds over that period, it only just made a profit at all – this despite being a company turning over millions.
“It is baffling that this company did not discover the losses until very recently.”
He added: “Principally, the sums withdrawn in cash … were largely spent on cocaine. If that is correct – and it is not challenged in any way – your cocaine habit was enormous.
“It is surprising, frankly, that you have recovered from it.”